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Sunday, 4 March 2012

A Child’s Prayer - Matilda B. Edwards

God make my life a little light,
    Within the world to glow,—
A tiny flame that burneth bright,
    Wherever I may go.

God make my life a little flower,
    That giveth joy to all;—
Content to bloom in native bower
    Although its place be small.

God make my life a little song,
That comforteth the sad;
That helpeth others to be strong,
And makes the singer glad.

God make my life a little staff
    Whereon the weak may rest,—
That so what health and strength I have
    May serve my neighbor best.

God make my life a little hymn
    Of tenderness and praise,—
Of faith, that never waxeth dim,
    In all His wondrous ways.
Matilda B. Edwards (1836 - 1919) England
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35 comments:

  1. Riaz Laghari21 October 2018 at 05:56

    When was it written and published?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bruce-the-Sheep22 October 2018 at 10:48

      Hi Riaz. Thanks for the question. It was published in 1884 (by K. Paul, Trench & Co, London) in her book "Poems" under the title "Hymn for a little child" (p. 54). It will have been written some time earlier, but I don't know the date on composition, I'm afraid. The book was revised and enlarged in 1907, printed by David Nutt, London (avaibale online here: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.l0070597018).

      Delete
    2. Unknown22 October 2018 at 20:43

      Hi bruce, There is nothing by the title 'hymn for a little child' in the book 'poems'. Can you explain sir?

      Delete
    3. Bruce-the-Sheep23 October 2018 at 14:14

      Hello "unknown". The link in my reply above is to the 1907 revised edition of her book "Poems". If you type 72 in the "Jump to" box at the top of the page, and click on "Go" this should take you to page 72 where you should see the poem I mentioned. If you looked on page 54, that's only for the earlier 1884 edition!

      Delete
  2. Unknown21 October 2018 at 09:59

    Great poetry

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown21 October 2018 at 10:17

    Ohhh...
    That mean Allama Iqbal Copied this poem ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bruce-the-Sheep22 October 2018 at 11:15

      Hi Adil. I wasn't aware of that. Do you mean his poem "The child and the candle" (see my post here: https://brucespoems.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-child-and-candle-allama-iqbal.html)? I don't think he was the sort of person who would copy another's work.

      Delete
    2. Unknown22 October 2018 at 18:36

      Hi Bruce,
      Good Day,
      Dosn't matter it is. This world is the imitation of an imitation the similarity is to some extend.worth appreciable is Iqbal's Urdu diction it self which has made the poem hear[10/18, 2:30 PM] Ahmad Hussain: Ahmad Mamoun
      [10/18, 4:38 PM] Haris sabir: Kon ho beta
      [10/18, 4:38 PM] Haris sabir: Mein ap ko nahi jantat touching full of spritulaty and melodious that is beyond any other's thinking.

      Kind regards ,
      Ahmad
      Mobile no : 0092 3022356200

      Delete
    3. Roshan khan13 March 2019 at 23:39

      Iqabal copied this poetry and also from pushto famous poet khushal khan khatak.

      Delete
    4. Unknown1 January 2022 at 10:57

      Iqbal copied work all his life.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13 April 2022 at 12:57

      Iqbal did not copy. His rendering of this poem in Urdu (Bachay Kee DUa) which appears in his book Bang-e-Dara clearly mentions that it is inspired by this poem.

      Delete
    6. sherwan ahsan9 July 2024 at 14:32

      But it's barely like the poem by Matilda...not even close

      Delete
  4. Anonymous22 October 2018 at 19:26

    Dear Bruce,

    Good Day...!!

    May you ever wave the flag of victory...!!

    Dose'nt matter. The world is the imitation of an imitation similarity is to some extend.
    Worth appreciable is Iqbal's diction in itself.
    Its heart touching depiction, melody and more over spirituality are beyond any boby's else thinking.

    Kind Regards,
    Ahmad.

    ReplyDelete
  5. جاوید احمد10 November 2018 at 14:58

    یہ تو علامہ محمد اقبال کی لکھی ہوئی ہے

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bruce-the-Sheep11 November 2018 at 13:17

      Hi - thanks for your contribution. When you say this was written by Allama Iqbal, do you mean literally this poem, or one like it? If this poem, please can you point me to the original text as I haven;t been able to find one. Thanks, Bruce

      Delete
    2. Hadiya20 October 2019 at 17:45

      I think Allama Iqbal took inspiration from that poem, as to write a poem in any language it should have proper weigh and balance. In Urdu it's much more difficult to rhyme than english. So we can say he wrote the poem in his own perspective

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22 February 2021 at 10:15

      assalam o alaikum...
      I hope that you will all be fine as today our teacher told us that Allama Iqbal was a cheater but as I read Hadiya's comment I truly agreed with her.He wrote in his own way it's way too different than this poem and I truly ignored my teacher and her opinion.
      Anyways thanks for your precious time you just took to review my comment :)
      Allah hafiz.
      Bye.
      Sign:XoXo..

      Delete
  6. Bruce-the-Sheep11 November 2018 at 13:16

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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    Replies
    1. Unknown20 February 2020 at 16:11

      Hi plz tell me in short I'm student what is this poem about

      Delete
    2. Bruce-the-Sheep20 February 2020 at 18:11

      Hi. This poem is a child's prayer to be good - each stanza describes different aspects of what being good means - for example the first stanza is about being a light to others (i.e. showing them the nature of God). I hope this helps.

      Delete
  7. Omer Khattab Khan15 November 2018 at 15:37

    Hi Mr Bruce. I need an advice. I also have an account in Blogspot and I have articles which I want to publish but I want to know, what's the criteria to earn money from Blogging?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bruce-the-Sheep16 November 2018 at 10:02

      Omer, I'm not really the right person to ask, as I don;t even try to make money from my blogs. I suggest you have a look at this article in the Blogger FAQs/Help:
      https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/1269077?hl=en

      Delete
  8. Unknown22 November 2018 at 12:04

    Iqbal's some poems r transltd frm other languages..it may b too bt its nt exact copy

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  9. Unknown18 December 2018 at 18:18

    Yoo these people are saying Allama Iqbal used to or have
    Copied some one else's work
    Are you outta your mind ?
    Maybe he was influenced by above
    Poet/poetess or maybe he was inspired by his/her poem !

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous5 January 2019 at 03:50

    Wao. This poem inspired Allama Iqbal to write "child's prayer" in Urdu. It doesn't mean he copied for his diction is better and his poem a bit longer. It is just like as Goethe adobted Faustbusch legend and carved an epic out of it or Marlowe wrote Dr. Faustus.
    Either Marlowe or Goethe didn't copied from that specific legend, just got inspiration and built a new structure around that.

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  11. Umair Shah13 November 2019 at 18:04

    Hi Bruce,

    Here is the original poem written by Allama Iqbal with English translation:

    http://iqbalurdu.blogspot.com/2011/02/bang-e-dra-9-bache-ki-dua.html

    Best regards,

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous7 June 2020 at 12:36

    Yes this is very similar to lab pe aati hai tamanna meri by iqbal

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    Replies
    1. Unknown25 July 2020 at 23:39

      this is not the one he copied . He also copy the pushto language poet khushal khan khattak .and he was inspired by him too

      Delete
  13. Syed Wadood23 October 2020 at 03:40

    Half of the poetry of Iqbal is copy of Pashto poet Khushhal khan khatak. The rest he copied from western poets . But he had a good sense of poetry and articulation to give his poetry an original touch.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous18 December 2020 at 14:43

    Please tell me the theme of this poem in some lines.(Markazi khyial)in english.

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    Replies
    1. Bruce-the-Sheep19 December 2020 at 15:37

      Hi. Have you looked at my reply to a previous comment? See 20 February 2020 at 18:11

      Delete
  15. Anonymous4 March 2021 at 11:57

    In what year did Matida write her poem?

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    Replies
    1. Bruce-the-Sheep4 March 2021 at 16:45

      See my earlier reply (above) to the same question

      Delete
  16. Anonymous11 August 2021 at 06:19

    great poets in sub continent like ghalib and mir taqi mir have developed their own style of poetry in order to avoid any allegation of plagiarism. they were that much conscious. further in the world of creative art, we expect new and fresh ways to communication. iqbals copying child's pray or paradise lost and regained of john milton ( shikwa and jawab shikwa) are considered as intellectual theft. even the verses were merely translated into urdu. Even if these were inspired of the english poets, credit or references should have been furnished as in those days even in books authors tend to refer to the original source of information. iqbal didnt know that google would be invented to expose his frauds.

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  17. Bashy Quraishy13 November 2021 at 16:36

    Dear Bruce
    I am an ordinary student of Iqbal.
    Allamah Iqbal wrote many books in Persian, Urdu and in English language. His use of languages, philosophy and thinking is unique and have inspired millions. None in his right mind would blame him for copying or plagiarism others. Iqbal's articulation and poetry is divine and his poetry is unmatched in Urdu and Persian circles.
    Good ideas and beautiful thoughts are revealed to humanity. It is from universal consciousness. Many times, my own writings on Islamophobia and speeches on human rights look and sound very close to other activists but it does not mean that I copy them or they copy me.
    By the way, those who write as anonymous are not worth a second of serious commentators.
    Kind regards

    ReplyDelete

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