Prayer in Time of Grief

(Lament for an English War Bride
Born Near Stonehenge in 1900)

by
Lois Francis

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Bleak prairie sky, unbroken by ancient sacred stones,
What more can you tell me of loneliness and grief?

How I long to see the familiar ritual icons,
In the setting of my youth!
How I miss the raucous tumult of
Siblings interacting, pushing, laughing, fighting,
But alive —
Unlike the babes I nursed here
In this hostile land.

May God forgive this loathsome ache
For what once was, and for what might have been.
Grant strength beyond my reach
To embrace the barren skyline where I live,
And accept the visits of familiar death.

Is this the way Life is? The way it's meant to be:
sorrow like dry ashes in my mouth,
Absence like a hollowness of heart?

God send your song to ease the shame
Of all the pain I feel, of deep despair
And lack of trust you're really there at all.

What happened to that daring girl
Who seized the day and took life by the throat,
Who wed a soldier, crossed a sea
And vowed to make a life on alien soil?

May God send wisdom to let me see
The purpose of it all,
Or at least, not seeing, to accept.

O bleak prairie sky, unbroken infinite horizon
What can you tell me now of happiness and joy?

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