Poems (Clark)/The Answered Prayer

by Annie Maria Lawrence Clark

THE ANSWERED PRAYER

In fair Brittany we wandered,
 Loitering on our pleasant way,—
Adding to the cherished pictures
 That kind Memory holds to-day:
And among the very fairest,
 With its setting quaint and old,
Deem I this, whose touching pathos,
 Has a charm the heart to hold.

A wan, crippled little maiden,
 With a sweet and patient face,
And a voice whose mournful cadence
 Gave her words a touching grace.—
Oft we saw her in our rambles,
 Sitting by the flower-edged way,
And we marked the tender kindness,
 Of her little mates at play.

Thus one morn we saw her sitting,
 And her smile such radiance shed,
That she seemed a saintly maiden,
 With a halo o'er her head.
And we questioned, "Was she better?"
 While she softly answered "Nay,
But I shall be soon, for surely
 Christ will hear my mother pray."

Days sped on, another morning
 And a bier strewn sweet with flowers,
Told us she indeed was better
 In a fairer world than ours.
So unto the mother's praying
 The dear Lord had answered best,
And instead of earthly comfort,
 He had given Heavenly rest.