[Editor: This poem by William Blocksidge (also known as William Baylebridge) was published in Songs o’ the South (1908).]
The Prayer and the Reply
A mother, bending o’er her babe, with joy
Its lovely innocence surveyed;
And, fearing lest the storms her flower destroy,
Thus for the sleeping child she prayed:
“Lord, keep this little one from every ill,
For Thou alone canst rule it so;
May none but holy thoughts his heart e’er fill;
Thy richest blessings may he know!
“When mighty storms shall rage life’s heavens round,
May his day miss the fearful charge;
May none with blighting fears his hopes confound;
Thy bounties, Lord, for him enlarge!”
God heard that mother’s prayer; and Mercy told,
His holy angel, to attend
A spirit through the gates of pearl and gold
To where with perfect peace ’twould blend.
Source:
William Blocksidge, Songs o’ the South, London: Watts, 1908, p. 20
Editor’s notes:
canst = (archaic) can (second person singular present of “can”)
e’er = (vernacular) an archaic contraction of “ever”
ill = calamity, problem, misfortune; an attribution of someone or something as being bad, evil, harmful, or malevolent (e.g. an ill omen, ill treatment); a description of someone or something as being faulty, inefficient, insufficient, or unpleasant (e.g. ill-designed machinery, ill mannered), or to describe someone or something in such a critical way (e.g. to speak ill of the dead); something which afflicts, disturbs, troubles (e.g. social ills); bad, evil (e.g. for good or ill)
Lord = in a religious context, and capitalized, a reference to God or Jesus
o’er = (archaic) over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)
thou = (archaic) you
thy = (archaic) your
’twould = (vernacular) a contraction of “it would”
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