| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XV. Protest
A Prayer | | By James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) |
| | | GOD! do not let my loved one die, | |
| But rather wait until the time | |
| That I am grown in purity | |
| Enough to enter Thy pure clime, | |
| Then take me, I will gladly go, | 5 |
| So that my love remain below! | |
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| O, let her stay! She is by birth | |
| What I through death must learn to be; | |
| We need her more on our poor earth | |
| Than Thou canst need in heaven with Thee: | 10 |
| She hath her wings already, I | |
| Must burst this earth-shell ere I fly. | |
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| Then, God, take me! We shall be near, | |
| More near than ever, each to each: | |
| Her angel ears will find more clear | 15 |
| My heavenly than my earthly speech; | |
| And still, as I draw nigh to Thee, | |
| Her soul and mine shall closer be. | | | | |
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