Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Sonnets of Sorrow. 1. Praying for light, and praying all in vain

Praying for light, and praying all in vain,
Since not one lamp was shining in God's tower;
Praying for strength to bear consuming pain
Yet growing weaker with each passing hour;
Praying for hope the while relentless Fate
Marked out hope's grave, and dug it dark and deep,
My trembling lips at last could formulate
Only a prayer for sleep---forgetting sleep.

That plea was answered. From her silent place
Sleep came and touched me with oblivion:
Yet was that touch robbed of all healing grace:
For when she rose up in the awful dawn
She left but this in answer to my prayer-----
New strength to suffer with renewed despair.