Lord, spare me from the emptiness of days,
From knowledge half remembered, half concealed;
From knowing winks that greet me in the maze,
From what lies in the pit — unshrived, unhealed.

Lord save me from the stench of bowel and tract,
From nurses with their hearty cries and broth,
From surgeons with their jargon and their tact,
Lord send me strength to vent a mighty wrath

Annihilating pity and its kind,
From condescending fools who crowd my bed —
Lord grant me one clear day with clearer mind
In which to make my peace.  Then strike me dead.

    A day of laughter, friendship, joy and wit;
    Just one clear day — and then fulfill Thy writ.