How frail the bloom, how short the stay
That terminates us all!
Today we flourish green and gay,
Like leaves tomorrow fall.”
John Clare
To John Clare
By John Clare (1793 – 1864)
Prayer
by Louis Untermeyer
God, though this life is but a wraith,
Although we know not what we use,
Although we grope with little faith,
Give me the heart to fight—and lose.
Ever insurgent let me be,
Make me more daring than devout;
From sleek contentment keep me free.
And fill me with a buoyant doubt.
Open my eyes to visions girt
With beauty, and with wonder lit—
But let me always see the dirt,
And all that spawn and die in it.
Open my ears to music; let
Me thrill with Spring’s first flutes and drums—
But never let me dare forget
The bitter ballads of the slums.
From compromise and things half-done,
Keep me, with stern and stubborn pride;
And when, at last, the fight is won
God, keep me still unsatisfied.
Fourteen Lines 
“ God, keep me unsatisfied “ Is the perfect mantra for this day!
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Lovely, but the poet is LOUIS Untermeyer, not John. And elsewhere I have seen the title as “Tekiah — Keep Me Unsatisfied”.
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Thank you. My dyslexia is showing. I like your title better.
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