Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A PRAYER FOR BROKEN LITTLE FAMILIES, by VIOLET ALLEYN STOREY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A PRAYER FOR BROKEN LITTLE FAMILIES, by                    
First Line: God, pity broken little families
Last Line: Growing, day by day, more closely into oneness with each other.
Subject(s): Death; Family Life; Dead, The; Relatives


God, pity broken little families
Where there were four and now there are but three;
Where there were three and now there are but one or two;
Pray, comfort these as Thou alone canst do.

Send peace to houses where there is a crib,
Too wrinkleless its wild-rose-bordered spread,
Too smooth its pillow that, brief days ago,
Hollowed to hold a tiny, curl-framed head;

Or where an untouched place is laid above
An empty chair, facing which one must sit
And sup alone; or where a chintz-hung room
No more has gay, untidy youth in it;

Or where a curtain now hangs straight that long
Was knotted up so that a fragile hand
Might wave to neighbors as they came and went
Past two tired eyes across the wintry land. . .

God, teach all broken little families
To bear such losses self-conqueringly. . .
Understanding each other, day by day, more instinctively,
Forbearing each other, day by day, more patiently,
Growing, day by day, more closely into oneness with each other.





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