possibly by Samuel Wilberforce (1805 - 1873) and possibly by Ernest Roland Wilberforce (1840 - 1907)

Just for to‑day
Language: English 
Lord, for to-morrow and its needs
    I do not pray;
Keep me, my God, from stain of sin
    Just for to-day.
Help me to labor earnestly,
    And duly pray;
Let me be kind in word and deed,
    Father, to-day.

Let me no wrong or idle word
    Unthinking say;
Set thou a seal upon my lips
    Through all to-day.
Let me in season, Lord, be grave,
    In season gay;
Let me be faithful to thy grace,
    Dear Lord, to-day.

And if, to-day, this life of mine
    Should ebb away,
Give me thy sacrament divine,
    Father, to-day.
So for to-morrow and its needs
    I do not pray;
Still keep me, guide me, love me, Lord,
    Through each to-day.

Confirmed with Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul, Compiled and Edited by James Mudge, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago : The Abingdon Press, 1909. Attributed in this edition to Ernest R. Wilberforce.

Note: a variant of the text appears in A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895, ed. by Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1895 that attributes the text to Samuel Wilberforce.


Text Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

    [ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, [adaptation] ; composed by Jane Bingham Abbott.
  • Also set in English, [adaptation] ; composed by Paul Ambrose.

Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2020-12-07
Line count: 24
Word count: 116