Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PRAYER FROM A WORKING GIRL, by ELSIE ROBINSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PRAYER FROM A WORKING GIRL, by                    
First Line: Dear god / I wonder if you've time
Last Line: Amen.
Subject(s): God


Dear God,
I wonder if you've time
To listen
To this thing
I'd like to ask.

Perhaps a prayer
Seems kinda funny
In a place like this,
That's roaring with machines,
And jammed with desks,
And filled with men
All yelling orders --
(Or just hanging 'round
To try and get
Some girl to make a date --)
And yet it seems
As if we girls
Need praying more
In such a place
Than in a church that's still --
And safe -- And so I'm praying,
God, and if you've got
The answers, I wish
You'd shoot 'em straight.

They say girls work
Because they like it, God --
Because they're keen
On money or careers,
Well, maybe so, but as for me,
What I want most is not
Those things at all --
What I want most
Is just Your help
To stay a woman
In this world
Of working men
The kind of woman
That my mother was
So sweet and gentle
That you never guessed
How brave and strong she was
Beneath her quiet ways.

Help me be soft like she was --
Soft, in spite of all the brawls
A working girl must face --
And square, like she was --
Square, in spite of all the tricks
A working girl might use
To hold her place -- And honest,
Though I know it may not pay --
And cheerful though the job
Goes wrong all day.
Help me to stay a woman
And to keep
The dreams I used to have
At seventeen --
Kid dreams of kneeling
In the fairy sheen
Of wedding satin
Trailing white -- And sweet,
Half-frightened dreams
Of my own husband
Coming home at night to me
And our new baby --
Oh, please help me keep
Those dreams
In spite of all
The work and worry,
And the times
When things seem
Too horribly hard
For any girl to take.
For, honest, God,
It certainly is tough
When you are only getting
Half enough
To keep yourself alive --
Say, maybe fifteen bucks --
And sleeping where you can,
In some cheap dump
And wearing rags,
That make you look a frump
And all the time afraid
You'll get the air
Because the boss may think
That you don't care
About your looks --
Why, then, it isn't easy
To pretend you're mad
If some rich guy should say
He'd like to lend
You something
Toward a new Spring hat,
Or maybe hint
About a furnished flat
In some nice street,
Or ask you -- "Baby,
When do we two eat?"

Believe me, God,
It certainly is tough
For girls to go on
Being good
When things are rough
Like that --
And so I'm asking --
Help me hang on hard
To my kid dreams --
Help me stay clean
And pure,
The way my Mother stayed,
Until I find my man --
And then, dear God,
Please fix it so I can
Quit work --
And just do nothing
All the time
But love my man
And make his home
And have his babies, God.

That's what I pray --
And now I've got to quit --
The boss is yelling --
But you'll not
Forget the thing
I've asked for,
Will you, God?
Amen.





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