Look You, I'll Go Pray

    Look you, I'll go pray,
    My shame is crying,
    My soul is gray and faint,
    My faith is dying.
    Look you, I'll go pray -
    "Sweet Mary, make me clean,
    Thou rainstorm of the soul,
    Thou wine from worlds unseen."

Vachel Lindsay

Vachel Lindsay was an American poet known for his innovative performances of his poetry, which combined spoken word with music and theatrics. Born in Springfield, Illinois, Lindsay's work often revolved around American history and culture, reflecting his progressive social views. He played a significant role in the early 20th-century American poetry scene, influencing contemporaries and later poets with his dynamic style and passionate delivery.

Vachel Lindsay

The Old Horse in the City

Vachel Lindsay, Simple Poetry

The North Star Whispers to the Blacksmith's Son

Vachel Lindsay, Simple Poetry

The Perfect Marriage

Vachel Lindsay, Simple Poetry

Titian

Vachel Lindsay, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

At Mass

    No doubt to-morrow I will hide
    My face from you, my King.
    Let me rejoice this Sunday noon,
    And kneel while gray priests sing.

    It is not wisdom to forget.
    But since it is my fate
    Fill thou my soul with hidden wine
    To make this white hour great.

    My God, my God, this marvelous hour
    I am your son I know.
    Once in a thousand days your voice
    Has laid temptation low.

Vachel Lindsay

The Beggar's Valentine

    Kiss me and comfort my heart
    Maiden honest and fine.
    I am the pilgrim boy
    Lame, but hunting the shrine;

    Fleeing away from the sweets,
    Seeking the dust and rain,
    Sworn to the staff and road,
    Scorning pleasure and pain;

    Nevertheless my mouth
    Would rest like a bird an hour
    And find in your curls a nest
    And find in your breast a bower:

    Nevertheless my eyes
    Would lose themselves in your own,
    Rivers that seek the sea,
    Angels before the throne:

    Kiss me and comfort my heart,
    For love can never be mine:
    Passion, hunger and pain,
    These are the only wine

    Of the pilgrim bound to the road.
    He would rob no man of his own.
    Yo...

Vachel Lindsay

The Prayer-Seeker

Along the aisle where prayer was made,
A woman, all in black arrayed,
Close-veiled, between the kneeling host,
With gliding motion of a ghost,
Passed to the desk, and laid thereon
A scroll which bore these words alone,
Pray for me!

Back from the place of worshipping
She glided like a guilty thing
The rustle of her draperies, stirred
By hurrying feet, alone was heard;
While, full of awe, the preacher read,
As out into the dark she sped:
"Pray for me!"

Back to the night from whence she came,
To unimagined grief or shame!
Across the threshold of that door
None knew the burden that she bore;
Alone she left the written scroll,
The legend of a troubled soul,--
Pray for me!

Glide on, poor ghost of woe or sin!
Thou leav'...

John Greenleaf Whittier

I Went down into the Desert

    I went down into the desert
    To meet Elijah -
    Arisen from the dead.
    I thought to find him in an echoing cave;
    For so my dream had said.

    I went down into the desert
    To meet John the Baptist.
    I walked with feet that bled,
    Seeking that prophet lean and brown and bold.
    I spied foul fiends instead.

    I went down into the desert
    To meet my God.
    By him be comforted.
    I went down into the desert
    To meet my God.
    And I met the devil in red.

    I went down into the desert
    To meet my God.
    O, Lord my God, awaken from the dead!
    I see you there, your thorn-crown on the ground,
    I see you there, half-buried in the sand.
    I see you ther...

Vachel Lindsay

Let Us Pray

[note: A precious memory is associated with these words. The voice that uttered them is silent now but the solemnity of their utterance has not passed away. The [below] is a feeble attempt to give it something like permanency.]


Bow the head in supplication,
    Lowly, penitent, sincere,
Worthiest of adoration,
    God, the Holy One is here! -
Here, while through the open casement
    Gently beams the rising day,
While, in contrite self abasement,
    Rev'rently we kneel and pray!

Let us pray! - we're weak and weary,
    Faint of heart and slow of limb,
Over mountains dark and dreary
    Lies our pathway - narrow, dim,
Thorn beset and demon-haunted,
    Steep and slipp'ry is the way,
Would we tread it all undaunted,
    Firm of footstep? - let...

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule)

Brethren, Go! A Valediction.

Brethren, go! the day is bright'ning
    As the sultry noon steals on,
And the fields, already whit'ning,
    Tell of labor to be done.

There are toilsome days before you,
    Burdens that you may not shun,
Clouds will gather darkly o'er you,
    Reeds will fail you one by one.

Yet go forth to strong endeavor,
    'Neath the shadow of the cross;
He who calls will leave you never, -
    Never let you suffer loss!

Go; the voices of the dying
    Float on every passing breeze;
Tones of wild, imploring crying
    Come from lands beyond the seas!

Go where pain and sorrow languish,
    Go where Sin works strife and woe,
Cleanse Earth's stain, and heal her anguish,
    Jesus calls you - brethren, go!

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule)