4.6 Prayer For Success

by Eric Chaet

Great spirit,
pervade &
restore my will.

Sharpen the edge
of the blade.
Right the keel,
halt the lateral drift.

Give me the strength
to resist
the conventional
assumptions
of all who
have surrendered
& the might
& devious
techniques
of their rulers
& the rulers’
ambitious lieutenants.

Pull me back
from the precipice
of mere bitterness, irony, sarcasm, cynicism.

Restore to me the most outrageous idealism—
without withdrawing the hard-won knowledge of the divergence
between what people mostly do & what people mostly say.

Restore to me the suppleness of young grass
& help me develop the endurance of the oak & acorn.

Give me the single-minded follow-thru of migrating butterflies,
the devotion of the dog, the cunning of the cat,
the sophistication of Socrates & Confucius
& of women among arrogant men.

Give me the will to develop & put to use
capacities equal & more
to those of the most ruthless exploiters of weaker humans.

Don’t let me sigh in relief
& lapse into fatal comforting of myself!

Allow me to be good & great & powerfully effective!
Brace & aim & fuel my efforts!

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Picture: Millet