Let us do it right, this time

Ever since I first read it, my New Year's reading has been the poem by John M. Ford called "Restoration Day: Plainsong" from the last Liavek volume; it was later reprinted in his NESFA Press collection, From the End of the Twentieth Century. Here is its peroration.

"All over the redeemed City they are working joy-blind,
Shaping pots, baking bread, sewing fabrics and wounds,
Making with their hands the ultimate prayer
Of those who endure in the hope of the truth of the world:
Please, you gods and fellow mortals,
Let us do it right,
Let us do it right, this time."

Amen.

P.