Observations placeholder

I take pride in this great wall, and I plaster it with dust and
sand lest a least hole should be left in this name; and for all
the care I take I lose sight of my true being.

I came out alone on my way to my tryst.  But who is this that
follows me in the silent dark?

I move aside to avoid his presence but I escape him not.
He makes the dust rise from the earth with his swagger; he adds
his loud voice to every word that I utter.

He is my own little self, my lord, he knows no shame; but I am
ashamed to come to thy door in his company.
'Prisoner, tell me, who was it that bound you?'

'It was my master,' said the prisoner.  'I thought I could outdo
everybody in the world in wealth and power, and I amassed in my
own treasure-house the money due to my king.  When sleep overcame
me I lay upon the bed that was for my lord, and on waking up I
found I was a prisoner in my own treasure-house.'

'Prisoner, tell me, who was it that wrought this unbreakable
chain?'

'It was I,' said the prisoner, 'who forged this chain very
carefully.  I thought my invincible power would hold the world
captive leaving me in a freedom undisturbed.  Thus night and day
I worked at the chain with huge fires and cruel hard strokes.
When at last the work was done and the links were complete and
unbreakable, I found that it held me in its grip.'

By all means they try to hold me secure who love me in this
world.  But it is otherwise with thy love which is greater than
theirs, and thou keepest me free.

Lest I forget them they never venture to leave me alone.  But day
passes by after day and thou art not seen.
If I call not thee in my prayers, if I keep not thee in my heart,
thy love for me still waits for my love.

When it was day they came into my house and said, 'We shall only
take the smallest room here.'

They said, 'We shall help you in the worship of your God and
humbly accept only our own share in his grace'; and then they
took their seat in a corner and they sat quiet and meek.

But in the darkness of night I find they break into my sacred
shrine, strong and turbulent, and snatch with unholy greed the
offerings from God's altar.

Let only that little be left of me whereby I may name thee my
all.

Let only that little be left of my will whereby I may feel thee
on every side, and come to thee in everything, and offer to thee
my love every moment.

Let only that little be left of me whereby I may never hide thee.

Let only that little of my fetters be left whereby I am bound
with thy will, and thy purpose is carried out in my life--and
that is the fetter of thy love.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the
dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought
and action--

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

This is my prayer to thee, my lord--strike, strike at the root of
penury in my heart.
Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.
Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.

Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees
before insolent might.

Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.
And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will
with love.

I thought that my voyage had come to its end at the last limit of
my power,--that the path before me was closed, that provisions
were exhausted and the time come to take shelter in a silent
obscurity.

But I find that thy will knows no end in me.  And when old words
die out on the tongue, new melodies break forth from the heart;
and where the old tracks are lost, new country is revealed with
its wonders.

That I want thee, only thee--let my heart repeat without end.
All desires that distract me, day and night, are false and empty
to the core.