I HEARD a voice in the gloaming-time Singing out in the lonely street; The notes rose up in a wailing chime, Then fell with a sadness sweet. I listen'd awhile and my heart was stirr'd, 'Twas a song of sorrow and pain, I gently stole out in the darkness and heard The last of the touching strain -- "Father above! Hear me to-night, My mother I would save, Cold is our home, no fire, no light, Give me of bread, I crave." I heard a voice in a dingy room, Crying out in a dying tone, "My child, my child, how deep is the gloom, Come back to your mother, lone." A footstep was heard on the creaking stair, And a shout -- "O mother! I come;" But a weeping child breath'd in silence a prayer, As a mother-soul went home -- "Father above! Hear me to-night, O with Thy child abide; I'm but a sinner in Thy sight, Be Thou my only guide." I saw a child by a grave-side stand, And the tears from her bright eyes fell, As the sexton old, with a kindly hand, Hid all that she loved so well; Then wandering away from a scene so dark, To a world all bright and fair, Like the weary dove coming back to the ark, God had a friend waiting there -- "I thank Thee, Father, God of Love, For all Thy tender care; I know that Thou in heaven above Hast heard the orphan's prayer." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LANDSCAPES (FOR CLEMENT R. WOOD) by LOUIS UNTERMEYER THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER, FR. SONGS OF INNOCENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE THE LAND OF DREAMS by WILLIAM BLAKE MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS by ROBERT BURNS ALMS by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY |