Mother’s Prayer

Oh give me patience when wee hands
Tug at me with their small demands.
And give me gentle and smiling eyes
Keep my lips from hasty replies.
And let not weariness, confusion, or noise
Obscure my vision of life’s fleeting joys.
So when, in years to come my house is still,
No bitter memories its room may fill.

~ Margaret H. Schwab (1968)