{"collection":"cfu","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/cfu/boo/boo13.htm","path":"cfu/boo/boo13.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/cfu/boo/boo13.htm","text":"The Book of Odes, by L. Cranmer-Byng, [1908]\nEven as a little helpless child am I,\n On whom hath fallen the perplexed affairs\n Of this unsettled state. High loneliness\n And sorrow are my portion. Thou great Father,\n Thou kingly pattern of parental awe,\n Whose mind for ever in the courts beheld,\n Roaming, the royal image of thy sire,\n Night long and day long, I\u2014the little child\u2014\n Will so be reverent.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0O ye great kings!\n Your crowned successor crowns you in his heart.\n Live unforgotten. Here, upon the verge\n Of the momentous years, I pause and trace\n The shining footsteps of my forefathers,\n And the far-distant goal that drew them on\u2014\n Too distant for my range. Howe\u2019er resolved\n I may go forward, lo! a thousand tracks\n Cause me to swerve aside. A little child\u2014\n Only a little child\u2014I am too frail\n To cope with the anxieties of state\n And cares of king-craft. Yet I will ascend\n[paragraph continues] Into my Father's room, and through the courts\n Below, for ever seeking, I will pass,\n To brush the skirts of inspiration\n And touch the sleeves of memory.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0O great\n And gracious Father, hear and condescend\n To guard, to cherish, to enlighten me.","title":"The Book of Odes: Prayer of Ching, II","type":"page"}