The Garden Prayer is finished to hang outdoors and is about
36" x 30". A comparable commissioned work would be
valued around $500, depending on the imagery. The colors coordinate
with the surrounding garden but the primary emphasis of this
artwork is on the text by Max Ehrmann, which follows:
"Let me do my work each day; and if the darkened hours
of despair
overcome me, may I not forget the strength that comforted me
in the desolation of other times.
May I still remember the bright hours that found me walking
over
the silent hills of my childhood, or dreaming on the margin
of a quiet
river, when a light glowed within me, and I promised my early
God
to have courage amid the tempests of the changing years.
Spare me from bitterness and from the sharp passions of
unguarded
moments. May I not forget that poverty and riches are of the
spirit.
Though the world knows me not, may my thoughts and actions be
such as shall keep me friendly with myself.
Lift up my eyes from the earth, and let me not forget the
uses of the
stars. Forbid that I should judge others lest I condemn myself.
Let me not follow the clamor of the world, but walk calmly in
my
path.
Give me a few friends who will love me for what I am; and
keep ever
burning before my vagrant steps the kindly light of hope."
And though age and infirmity overtake me, and I come not
within
sight of the castle of my dreams, teach me still to be thankful
for
life, and for time's olden memories that are good and sweet;
and
may the evening's twilight find me gentle still.