prayers Archives - Scottish Poetry Library

Leith Fisherman’s Prayer - by Scottish anonymous

{ Poem }

So with the Darkest Days behindOur ship of Hope will steerAnd when in doubt just keep in mindOur motto- Persevere.

Prayer for My Father as a Child - by Miriam Nash

{ Poem }

In the house where he sleeps
let my ears
be the leaves at the window.

The Unveiling - by J. B. Salmond

{ Poem }

Out of the mist of yearnings, prides, and shames
We raise our cairn of glorious regret,
And with God’s honour now unite the names
Men signed in bloody sweat.

The Beginning of a New Song - by Iain Mac a’ Ghobhainn
Iain Crichton Smith

{ Poem }

Let her new river shine on a day
That is fresh and glittering and contemporary;

Let it be true to itself and to its origins
Inventive, original, philosophical

In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport - by Emma Lazarus

{ Poem }

Here, where the noises of the busy town, / The ocean’s plunge and roar can enter not, / We stand…

New Every Morning - by Susan Coolidge

{ Poem }

Every day is a fresh beginning;
Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain,
And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,
And puzzles forecasted and possible pain,
Take heart with the day, and begin again.

A Bush Night - by Will H. Ogilvie

{ Poem }

I remember the pale summer lightning that flashed on the purple
horizon,
Full-sweep like the sword-play of giants, the dark to bedeck
and bedizen
With gold for the path of the planets

Vesper - by Miriam Nash

{ Poem }

In each bottle of nail polish a ghost / sets all the prayers in the house to glint.

At the End - by Andrew Dodds

{ Poem }

When my last song is finished,
/ And my heart has lost its fire,
/ When passion is diminished,
/ And dead is all desire,
/ I pray…

Late Call - by Diana Hendry

{ Poem }

Lord, this is pip-squeak calling.
/ Even with your infinite technology
/ I expect your line’s busy. Therefore
/ forgive me my witter, tucked…

Prayer Before Action – 1916 - by William Hutcheson

{ Poem }

Dear God, when zero time arrives
/ And I am in the killing stunt,
/ To take perhaps a dozen lives,
/ Or I myself…

Blessing - by Angus Dunn

{ Poem }

There is a god who tends / the empty corners of public places / the spaces where no one goes…

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