Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
The Unfinished Prayer
By Anonymous“N
“Lay me,” lisped the tiny lips
Of my daughter, kneeling, bending
O’er her folded finger-tips.
And the curly head bent low;
“I pray the Lord,” I gently added;
“You can say it all, I know.”
Fainter still—“My soul to keep;”
Then the tired head fairly nodded,
And the child was fast asleep.
When I clasped her to my breast,
And the dear voice softly whispered,
“Mamma, God knows all the rest.”
Of the child heart! Would that I
Thus might trust my Heavenly Father,
He who hears my feeblest cry.