Te Deum by Charles Reznikoff

Not because of victories
I sing,
having none,
but for the common sunshine,
the breeze,
the largess of the spring.

Not for victory
but for the day’s work done
as well as I was able;
not for a seat upon the dais
but at the common table



from
The Poems of Charles Reznikoff:1918-1975,
ed. Seamus Cooney
(Boston: Black Sparrow/David Godine, 2005)