Prayer for a Proper Literary Outlook

Frank O'Connor

Lord, may all we story-spinners
Die as we have lived like sinners
May our wives still live in terror
Knowing we persist in error.
May no offer seem inviting
To the serious forms of writing
May we have, and air, no knowledge,
Never get a job in college
Never be successful when
We write criticism---Amen!



Written: 1962
First published: 1983
Source Voices: Matthews, James; A Life of Frank O'Connor';New York; Atheneum; 1983; p. 352