Lyric Poem · Peace
Prayer
1I ASK good things that I detest,
2With speeches fair;
3Heed not, I pray Thee, Lord, my breast,
4But hear my prayer.
5I say ill things I would not say -
6Things unaware:
7Regard my breast, Lord, in Thy day,
8And not my prayer.
9My heart is evil in Thy sight:
10My good thoughts flee:
11O Lord, I cannot wish aright -
12Wish Thou for me.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Prayer” by Robert Louis Stevenson — quilloak.com/poems/prayer
Quick facts
- Poem
- Prayer
- Poet
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- Length
- 20 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Peace, Love
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 20 lines · 5 quatrains
- End rhyme
- ABAB in 60% of the stanzas — alternate rhyme. The remaining stanzas vary, often through slant rhyme.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Robert Louis Stevenson1850–1894
- Source record
- PoetryDBPrayer by robert-louis-stevenson, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 9f2fcf112eba74b9…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.