A Prayer for Recollection

How my thoughts betray me! 
How they flit and stray! 
Well they may appal me
On great judgment day. .

Through the psalms they wander 
Roads that are not right; 
Mitching, shouting, squabbling 
In God’s very sight. 

Through august assemblies
Groups of gamesome girls,
Then through woods, through cities,
Like the wind in whirls.

Now down lordly highways
Boisterously they stride,
Then through desert pathways
Secretly they glide.

In their ,whims unferried
Overseas they fly,
Or in one swift motion
Spin from earth to sky.

Lost to recollection
Near and far they roam;
From some monstrous errand
Slyly they slink home.

Where are ropes to bind them?
Who has fetters fit?
They who lack all patience
Cannot stand or sit.
No sharp sword affrights them,
Nor any threatening whip;
 ff Like an eel’s tail, greasy,
 From my grasp they slip.

Lock nor frowning dungeon, 
Nor sentinelled frontier,
Townwall, sea nor fortress
Halts their mad career.

Christ the chaste, the cherished,
Searcher of the soul,

Grant the seven-fold spirit
Keep them in control.

 Rule my thoughts and feelings,
You who brook no ill;
Make me yours forever,
Bend me to your will.

Grant me, Christ, to reach you,
With you let me be
Who are not frail nor fickle
Nor feeble-willed like me.


Source: O'Connor, Frank (tr); Kings, Lords, & Commons: An Anthology
from the Irish; 1962; London; Macmillan & Co; p.10