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BOOK I. Yet once there was a day When I possessed more : Thou know st that from my very birth I ve been the poorest wretch on earth.

4 Nor can I dare profess, As beggars often do, Though great is my distress, My faults have been but few : If thou shouldst leave my soul to starve, It would be what I well deserve.

5 Twere folly to pretend I never begg d before ; Or if thou now befriend, I ll trouble thee no more ; Thou often hast relieved my pain, And often I must come again.

6 Though crumbs are much too good For such a dog as I, No less than children s food My soul can satisfy. do not frown and bid me go, I must have all thou canst bestow !

7 Nor can I willing be Thy bounty to conceal From others who, like me, Their wants and hunger feel : I ll tell them of thy mercy s store, And try to send a thousand more.

8 Thy thoughts, thou Only Wise, Our thoughts and ways transcend, Far as the arched skies Above the earth extend : Such pleas as mine men would not bear, But God receives a beggar s pray r.