Oh God, make me incapable of prayer,
Too brave for supplication, too secure
To feel the taunt of danger. Let my heart
Be tightened mightily to withstand pain,
And make me suffer singly, without loss.
Now let me bear alone the ageing world
On firmer shoulders than the giant Atlas.
Make me symbolically iconoclast,
The ideal Antichrist, the Paradox.
This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on October 31, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.
