The Bibliomaniac's Prayer
Keep me, I pray, in wisdom's wayThat I may truths eternal seek;I need protecting care to-day,--My purse is light, my flesh is weak.So banish from my erring heartAll baleful appetites and hintsOf Satan's fascinating art,Of first editions, and of prints.Direct me in some godly walkWhich leads away from bookish strife,That I with pious deed and talkMay extra-illustrate my life.But if, O Lord, it pleaseth TheeTo keep me in temptation's way,I humbly ask that I may beMost notably beset to-day;Let my temptation be a book,Which I shall purchase, hold, and keep,Whereon when other men shall look,They 'll wail to know I got it cheap.Oh, let it such a volume beAs in rare copperplates abounds,Large paper, clean, and fair to see,Uncut, unique, unknown to Lowndes.
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