"Forgive Us All Our Trespasses, Little Creatures Everywhere"
Context: This poem expressing simple humanitarian sentiments is a prayer addressed to "little creatures everywhere," beseeching forgiveness in behalf of all mankind for trespasses against them. The poet's sympathies go out to the helpless creatures "that run and quail/ And die in silence and despair." He calls upon little creatures of the air, land, and sea, "little things that fight and fail/ And fall," to forgive mankind its many injustices. "All trapped and frightened little things,/ The mouse, the coney, hear our prayer," he pleads. Using the Lord's Prayer as a model, he concludes his poem:
As we forgive those done to us,
The lamb, the linnet, and the hare,
Forgive us all our trespasses,
Little creatures everywhere.
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