Prayer

 

At difficult moments in life

If my soul is oppressed by grief:
A prayer so true then comes again 
And my heart it knowingly repeats.

There is abundant strength
That comes with the vitality of words.
Though inexplicable how it breathes 
A holy joy returns.

Doubt, like a burden, falls from the soul
How far it’s removed from me —
Returns the believing and joyful weeping, 
And all so readily, so readily . . .  

                                                       —Mikhail Lermontov