Alabama, ip 15. 61 



STRIVE, WAIT AND PRAY 



STRIVE : yet I do not promise 

 The prize you dream of today 

 Will not fade when you think to grasp it, 



And melt in your hand away; 

 But another and holier treasure, 



You would now perchance disdain, 

 Will come when your toil is over, 

 And pay you for all your pain. 



Wait : yet I do not tell you 



The hour you long for now 

 Will not come with its radiance vanished, 



And a shadow upon its brow; 

 Yet, far through the misty future, 



With a crown of starry light, 

 An hour of joy you know not 



Is winging her silent flight. 



Pray : though the gift you ask for 



May never comfort your fears — 

 May never repay your pleadings — 



Yet pray, and with hopeful tears ; 

 An answer, not that you long for, 



But diviner will come one day; 

 Your eyes are too dim to see it, 



Yet strive, and wait, and pray. 



— Adelaide A. Proctor. 



