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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.