Poem: “With Clearer Eye” by William Deerfield

If only I could see today, 

In everyone that comes my way, 

A child of God, though dimly drawn. 

Then no one, Lord, would be my pawn 

To use in any scheme of mine, 

However grand, or warped design … 

If only, passing on the street, 

In every stranger I may meet … 

    The business man who rushes by, 

    The homeless one, with downcast eye, 

    The mother with a child in tow, 

    The rowdy kids that laughing go, 

    The actress with her haughty look, 

    The student with his bag and book … 

A child of Thine, I could discern, 

The heart in me, O Lord, would burn 

To look on each with kind regard, 

And not with looks indifferent, hard. 

In each, if only I might see 

The essence of humanity 

And godliness, though blurred the grace; 

For all that breathe reflect God’s face. 

Oh, let me see with clearer eye – 

A child of God just walked on by. 

 Source: June Cotner, Bedside Prayers: Prayers and Poems for When You Rise and Go to Sleep.