The American Mother's Prayer

The American Mother's Prayer

Great God, who keepeth watch within

The shadow, as the ages pass;

Who loveth all humanity,

The high, the low, the struggling mass;

Give us this day the strength to bear

Our rightful burdens, is our prayer.

Pressed to our lips we feel the cup

Of sorrow, heartache, suff'ring, pain.

'Tis brimming o'er with briny tears

And haunting fears we can't restrain, —

Our soldier sons may pay the price

Of death, perhaps succumb to vice.

The cup is bitter, Lord, we pray,

If thou canst fill thy righteous plan

To plant a peace that lasts for aye

And build the brotherhood of man

Without this suff'ring, Lord, we cry,

Oh let this bitter cup pass by.

But, if full suff'ring must attend

This birth of world democracy,

This founding of Christ's peace on earth, —

When "might is right" shall cease to be; —

Complete the work Thou hast begun,

Though we drain the cup, Thy will be done.

Bunkerville, Nevada Annie Woodbury Hafen.