beautiful gifts

the joys of selfless giving  
[No. 1 from The Youth Collection]  
   
"The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life  
is to give it away."—David Viscott  
   
give me beautiful eyes:  
let me behold the azure skies,  
that when the sun at even paints the canvas of the west,    
i may behold the wonders of the universe at rest.  
   
give me beautiful lips,  
that i may send delicious sips  
of kindly words to every heart that longs for poetry;    
and may the world be ransomed by my deft diplomacy.    
   
give me beautiful hands,  
that i may sift the shifting sands  
of time, to trap the obstacles that hinder healing touch;    
and may my fingers multiply life's little into much.  
   
give me beautiful feet,  
that when, on every bitter street,  
i see the lowly and the lame, the broken and the blind,  
my zeal may hasten to revive vexed spirits thus confined.  
   
give me beautiful thoughts,  
that i may cherish, as i ought,  
the passing moments of my life that flash before my eyes;  
humbly, may i milk virtue, ere it atrophies and dies.  
   
give me beautiful gifts,  
that when good fortune from me shifts,    
i may, from my abundant stores, give my whole self away,  
so that life's final dance may be a beautiful ballet.    
   
© Copyright 2023 December 16  
by Clyve A. Bowen♫