Lord, if I preferred the fine degrees
Of Thy justice to the antipodes
Of mercy, count it not a fault.
Judgment may not with love’s vehemence assault
Thy multiple mansion, yet count me,
Count me among the just.
Count me with those who must renounce a mind
Confined
By its own infinity.
The pollen of the Law I buzzed among I reckon dust
Yet number me
Not with the worms that sting, not with the flies,
O number me among the bees of paradise.
Eric Ormsby, “Two Private Prayers of the Rev. Blacklock”, 2. From Time’s Covenant: Selected Poems.