For strength we ask
For the ten thousand times repeated task,
The endless smallnesses of every day.
No, not to lay
My life down in the cause I cherish most,
That were too easy. But, whate'er it cost,
To fail no more
In gentleness toward the ungentle, nor
In love toward the unlovely, and to give,
Each day I live,
To every hour with outstretched hand, its meed
Of not-to-be-regretted thought and deed.
--Agnes Ethelwyn Wetherald.