Destroyers and Other Verses/Mother of Heaven, I Pray Thee

by Henry Head

 

Mother of Heaven, I pray theeHear but this prayer of mine,And my scoffing lover shall worshipEach Sunday at thy shrine.

Let him rise again and stand upright,Heal thou his hideous pain:Let him see the leaves in the spring-time,The sweet earth after rain.

Perhaps his sins are so manyThou wilt not make him whole;Grant only that on crutchesHe may come, to save his soul.

For thy great fame 'twere betterHe were not healed outright:For then no shrine he'd visit,But royster through the night.

Paris, April, 1855.