A PRAYER by Nina R. Allen

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 12, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 53.

A PRAYER.

By Nina R. Allen

BY NINA R. ALLEN.

Lord, teach us how to pray. Oh, do thou lead the way! So rough the path sometimes, so dim and steep, So steep and dim, where fall the shadows deep, With perils fraught, when darkling fogs obscure, Or will-o-wisps to deadly marsh allure, When pales the cloudless splendor of the noon, Or blackness robs the sky of guiding moon, Then teach us how to pray, And lead us into day.

Teach us for what to pray. Lord, do not let us stray Afar from thee. Teach us to choose life's gold, Not dross, to know that pain and grief enfold A blessing and a peace, steadfast and sweet; Make blind eyes see; give strength to stumbling feet.

Within the ashes of a dead self lies A nobler self. To thee our dead past cries. Teach us for what to pray, To rise above our clay.

—New York Observer.