Dearest God
Or whatever good spirit
Of worlds and blessed nothing
Of blackness and stars
Lives yet
In this strange place

I pray for strength
To fight the demons of my thought
And to hope for a good end
To hope well enough to hear
Her voice
My muse

I pray for courage
To continue
For a scribbler's path is lonely
Through a desert place
Where food and drink are sparse
And a bard must risk livelihood
To follow his love

I pray for help
For I am poor
For I am weary
And I cannot make the journey alone

I pray for comfort
That my quest is worthwhile
That others may gain from my labor
That I will be remembered
And not go quietly into the night

I pray too for vision
That I might see the proper paths
Of tales
Of heroes
For the way is riddled with false roads
And traps for the unwary

Last of all I pray for voice
To sing well this song
To send off my love
Like a spark to the world
May it catch
May it catch fire...

Dearest God of Poets
Of muses
Of scribes
And singers too
This and more I pray
For I am only one man
And the world is a bitter thing
For a dreaming heart to bear alone.

(copyright 2007, 2008 Robert Marston Fanney)