Upon Completing Twenty-Eight Years of Life
By Delwin Rees Buckner
Full many of our manhood years are spent,
And O, how poorly Thou alone canst know!
O God, who knowest all things here below,
How often precious talents Thou hast lent
We've squandered uselessly, or been content
To wrap them in a rag and leave them so!
Yet from henceforward we would use them to
Thy greater glory and our betterment.
If we have failed to clothe the naked limb,
Or minister to him whose days to live
Are few; set bread before the hungry, too,
Or guide the groping one whose eyes are dim;
Dear Lord, we would that Thou wouldst us forgive,
For we, this day, would start our life anew.