The Grasp of Your Hand

      Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers,
but to be fearless in facing them.
      Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but
for the heart to conquer it.
      Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved,
but hope for the patience to win my freedom.
      Grant me that I may not be a coward, feeling
Your mercy in my success alone; but let me find
the grasp of Your hand in my failure.


Rabindranath Tagore, The Heart of God: Prayers of Rabindranath Tagore, by Herbert E. Vetter (Tuttle Publishing 1997)