• Author: Livingston, Rev. William
• Editor: B-7413
• Newspaper: The Umpire volume V
• Page Number:
• Date: 2 6 1918
• Tags:
• poetry
• mothers

MOTHER’S PRAYER

When I knelt before the altar In my innocence and youth; And resolved to never falter In the utterance of truth, There were prayers to heaven ascending, Asking grace for me, and care, With the song of angels blending— ’Twas a loving mother’s prayer.

And, although I pine for pleasure And forget my early days, Still I know I have a treasure, Still I feel that some one prays; For when sin or sorrow nears ime, Worldly comfort seems to flee; Then the holy thought that cheers me Is, my mother prays for me.

Oh, how light we prize the jewel Which is ours in joy or tears! And how often are we cruel In our young and thoughtless years. We can only have one mother. When her spirit leaves us here We can never find another Who to us will be so dear.

So I think of her whe bore me, She who fondly called me child; For her face is still before me Like an angel’s, calm and mild: And though far away. I’m straying, She shall ne’er forgotten be, For a voice within keeps saying. That my mother prays for me.

—The Rev. William Livingston