C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Prayer

AS a guardian angel, take me under your wing;

Deign to stoop and put out, smiling,

Your maternal hand to my little hand

To support my steps and keep me from falling!

For Jesus the sweet Master, with celestial love,

Suffered little children to come to him;

As an indulgent parent, he submitted to their caresses

And played with them without showing weariness.

O you who resemble those church pictures

Where one sees, on a gold background, august Charity

Preserving from hunger, preserving from cold,

A fair and smiling group sheltered in her folds;

Like the nursling of the Divine mother,

For pity’s sake, lift me to your lap;

Protect me, poor young girl, alone, an orphan,

Whose only hope is in God, whose only hope is in you!