WISH

Oh let me live aright,
and rightly die some day,
so that I touch reality
in evil as in good.
And let me be still
and what I see revere.
so that this may be this
and nothing more.

If of all life's long course
a single day were left,
then I would seek the fairest
that lives on earth possess.
The fairest thing there is on earth
is only honesty,
but it alone makes life to life
and to reality.

So is the wide world
a dew-cup's petal here.
and in the bowl there rests
a drop of water clear.
That single still drop
is life's eye-apple, sure.
Oh, make me worthy to look in it!
Oh, make me pure!

For more information, please visit the website of David McDuff and his own pages with the translations.