Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

II. Prayer and Aspiration

Exhortation to Prayer

Margaret Mercer

NOT on a prayerless bed, not on a prayerless bed

Compose thy weary limbs to rest;

For they alone are blessed

With balmy sleep

Whom angels keep;

Nor, though by care oppressed,

Or anxious sorrow,

Or thought in many a coil perplexed

For coming morrow,

Lay not thy head

On prayerless bed.

For who can tell, when sleep thine eyes shall close,

That earthly cares and woes

To thee may e’er return?

Arouse, my soul!

Slumber control,

And let thy lamp burn brightly;

So shall thine eyes discern

Things pure and sightly;

Taught by the Spirit, learn

Never on a prayerless bed

To lay thine unblest head.

Hast thou no pining want, or wish, or care,

That calls for holy prayer?

Has thy day been so bright

That in its flight

There is no trace of sorrow?

And thou art sure to-morrow

Will be like this, and more

Abundant? Dost thou yet lay up thy store

And still make plans for more?

Thou fool! this very night

Thy soul may wing its flight.

Hast thou no being than thyself more dear,

That ploughs the ocean deep,

And when storms sweep

The wintry, lowering sky,

For whom thou wak’st and weepest?

Oh, when thy pangs are deepest,

Seek then the covenant ark of prayer;

For He that slumbereth not is there—

His ear is open to thy cry.

Oh, then, on prayerless bed

Lay not thy thoughtless head.

Arouse thee, weary soul, nor yield to slumber,

Till in communion blest

With the elect ye rest—

Those souls of countless numbers;

And with them raise

The note of praise,

Reaching from earth to heaven—

Chosen, redeemed, forgiven;

So lay thy happy head,

Prayer-crowned, on blessèd bed.