Meditation

By Corporal F. Stewart Jones

When I think of the things I ought to be
And see the things I am,
I pray to God to forget me not
And help me build myself a man:
Build a man that’s straight and true
And stands with shoulders squared,
To look the whole world in the face
With eyes that see them through;
Let his face be soft and noble and clean
And colored by a thousand things,
The love of God, the love of man,
The love of happiness he brings;
Then when I have built this man, dear Lord,
The man that you want to see,
Then answer my deepest prayer
And let that man be me.

(1944)