Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A PRAYER FOR NORMA, by NONA HATTON BROWN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A PRAYER FOR NORMA, by                    
First Line: Dear lord, how can I bear to look at her
Last Line: Oh, hear my pleading for my sister, lord!
Subject(s): Children; Prayer; Childhood


Dear Lord, how can I bear to look at her,
When I stand here so wrapped in happiness,
My arms so full of blessings, rich and rare,
And she, with only anguished emptiness!

What can I say -- what word, or words, to her?
What can I do to ease her blinding pain?
But Thou, alone, dear Lord, can comfort her,
And bring some fulness to her heart again.

I stand ashamed of all my happiness,
When she, my sister, is so lost in grief.
On heal her heart, so torn, so bruised, -- bereft,
And may Thy blessed Spirit bring relief.

So gentle and so little and so lost,
She needs Thee, Father; comfort her I pray,
Oh, make Thy daughter strong to bear her load!
And may new courage fill her soul today.

Please give her compensation for her loss,
And guide her feet in paths, where, from her pain,
She may find life and fullness in the joy
Of guiding other hearts, to life again.

Oh may the understanding, bought so dear,
Of what one such as she, may suffer, aid
Her in uplifting other souls, sore hurt,
Who march, unending, in Grief's Cavalcade!

In Thy compassion for Thy children, here,
Please hear the prayer I have this day implored.
Thou art so good, and she so desolate.
Oh, hear my pleading for my sister, Lord!





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