Thursday, November 24, 2011

house prayer

Welcome to all on this Thanksgiving Thursday introduction to tomorrow's Poetry Friday feast. I heard a piece on NPR this morning on civility around the table which intersects nicely with this poem-set-to-music that has been running through my head. It's #1 in the Unitarian Universalist hymnal (wish I could link to a recording).  May it be so at your house today.





House Prayer
by Louis Untermeyer

May nothing evil cross this door,
And may ill fortune never pry
About these windows; may the roar
And rain go by.

Strengthened by faith, these rafters will
Withstand the batt'ring of the storm;
This hearth, through all the world grow chill,
Will keep us warm.

Peace shall walk softly through these rooms,
Touching our lips with holy wine,
Till every casual corner blooms
Into a shrine.

Laughter shall drown the raucous shout;
And, though these sheltering walls are thin,
May they be strong to keep hate out
And hold love in.

See you tomorrow, poems abounding!

2 comments:

  1. Happy Thanksgiving! Our Poetry Friday contribution though is quite laced with darkness - it'd be a nice balance for the set of poems that you may be receiving in keeping with Thanksgiving. :)

    Here's the link:
    http://gatheringbooks.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/poetry-friday-bereavement-leave-by-joel-m-toledo/

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's a fine poem. I hope you are enjoying the holiday - Belated Happy Thanksgiving.

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Thanks for joining in the wild rumpus!