The Mother's Prayer Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEFE GHIHB F BBBBAJKL MNONPQOQ R DKSTUT UHBHDVDV D M DQWQ XORODYIZ A2QBQSBBB SQBQBB2DB2

A mother kneels by the cradleA
Where her little infant liesB
And she sees the ghastly shadowsC
Creeping around his eyesB
And she clasps her hands togetherD
And her heart beats loud and wildE
And she cries in a gush of anguishF
'O Father save my childE
-
-
'Oh do not do not take himG
So soon to the home on highH
My beautiful dark eyed darlingI
O God he must not dieH
I cannot pray in meeknessB
'My Father's will be done '-
I can only cry in anguishF
'Oh save my infant son ''-
-
-
Slowly the ghastly shadowsB
Crept from the baby's eyesB
And the mother saw the bright orbsB
Open in sweet surpriseB
And she heard the lisping prattleA
And the childish laugh againJ
And she clasped him close to her bosomK
And her glad tears fell like rainL
-
-
The mother stands at the windowM
Watching the night come downN
As it settles slowly slowlyO
Over the busy townN
And the withered face is troubledP
And she sighs in a weary wayQ
'Oh where does my darling tarryO
Now at the close of dayQ
-
-
'Surely his task is endedR
Why is it he does not come '-
Ah mother one word will answerD
And that one word is RumK
He stands at the bar this momentS
Draining the tempter's bowlT
And your beautiful boy has enteredU
His name on the drunkards' rollT
-
-
Ah well your prayer was answeredU
You prayed that he might not dieH
That he might not join the angelsB
Who dwell in their home on highH
O mother say is it betterD
Or is it worse than deathV
To see your darling staggerD
And feel his rum foul breathV
-
-
You could not pray 'My FatherD
Thy will not mine be done '-
But cried in your deaf blind sorrowM
'Oh save my infant son '-
And is he saved fond motherD
And which is better prayQ
To know he is there in the rum shopW
Or under the grass to dayQ
-
-
O God of a mighty nationX
When shall the glad day beO
That the liquor reign is endedR
And our land is truly freeO
When our darling boys may wanderD
Through all its length and breadthY
With never a serpent lurkingI
To slay them in their strengthZ
-
-
Full many a year has vanishedA2
Since the grand triumphant dayQ
When we stood in bold defianceB
Of a tyrant monarch's swayQ
And now in a blood red torrentS
At the price of a million gravesB
We have swept the bonds and shacklesB
From the hands of a million slavesB
-
-
And yet we are under a tyrantS
And yet we are slaves to dayQ
And we do not bid defianceB
To the baleful liquor swayQ
Up O ye mourning captivesB
Strike at the tyrant's handB2
Loosen his hold for everD
Deliver a bondaged landB2

Ella Wheeler Wilcox



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