Prayer For The Loss Of A Baby

A Prayer for My Daughter

Prayer For The Loss Of A Baby

by William Butler Yeats

Once more the storm is howling, and half hidUnder this cradle-hood and coverlidMy child sleeps on. There is no obstacleBut Gregory’s wood and one bare hillWhereby the haystack- and roof-leveling wind.Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed;And for an hour I have walked and prayed

Because of the great gloom that is in my mind.

I have walked and prayed for this young child an hourAnd heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower,And under the arches of the bridge, and screamIn the elms above the flooded stream;Imagining in excited reverieThat the future years had come,Dancing to a frenzied drum,

the murderous innocence of the sea.

May she be granted beauty and yet notBeauty to make a stranger’s eye distraught,Or hers before a looking-glass, for such,Being made beautiful overmuch,Consider beauty a sufficient end,Lose natural kindness and maybeThe heart-revealing intimacy

That chooses right, and never find a friend.

Helen being chosen found life flat and dullAnd later had much trouble from a fool,While that great Queen, that rose the spray,Being fatherless could have her wayYet chose a bandy-legged smith for man.It’s certain that fine women eatA crazy salad with their meat

Whereby the Horn of Plenty is undone.

In courtesy I’d have her chiefly learned;Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earnedBy those that are not entirely beautiful;Yet many, that have played the foolFor beauty’s very self, has charm made wise,And many a poor man that has roved,Loved and thought himself beloved,

From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes.

May she become a flourishing hidden treeThat all her thoughts may the linnet be,And have no business but dispensing roundTheir magnanimities of sound,Nor but in merriment begin a chase,Nor but in merriment a quarrel.O may she live some green laurel

Rooted in one dear perpetual place.

My mind, because the minds that I have loved,The sort of beauty that I have approved,Prosper but little, has dried up of late,Yet knows that to be choked with hateMay well be of all evil chances chief.If there’s no hatred in a mindAssault and battery of the wind
Can never tear the linnet from the leaf.

An intellectual hatred is the worst,So let her think opinions are accursed.Have I not seen the loveliest woman born the mouth of Plenty’s horn,Because of her opinionated mindBarter that horn and every goodBy quiet natures understood

For an old bellows full of angry wind?

Considering that, all hatred driven hence,The soul recovers radical innocenceAnd learns at last that it is self-delighting,Self-appeasing, self-affrighting,And that its own sweet will is Heaven’s will;She can, though every face should scowlAnd every windy quarter howl

Or every bellows burst, be happy still.

And may her bridegroom bring her to a houseWhere all’s accustomed, ceremonious;For arrogance and hatred are the waresPeddled in the thoroughfares.How but in custom and in ceremonyAre innocence and beauty born?Ceremony’s a name for the rich horn,

And custom for the spreading laurel tree.

Literary Analysis

“A Prayer for My Daughter” is a reflection of the poet’s love for his daughter. It is also about surviving the turmoil of the contemporary world, where passions have been separated from reason. The setting of the poem is unspecified. The speaker is the poet himself talking to his daughter. The tone is gloomy, precarious, and frightening, as well as didactic.

The poem opens with a description of the speaker praying for his innocent infant daughter, Anne, lying in the middle of a storm “howling, and half hid.” The poet demonstrates his feelings through the use of symbols of weather.

The newborn baby girl is sleeping “Under this cradle-hood and coverlid,” implying the innocence and vulnerability of Anne. Though the external world is violent, she is protected from it.

The storm is a metaphor for the Irish people’s struggle for their independence, which was an uncertain political situation in Yeats’s day. He further presents the situation of the storm with “roof-leveling wind”, representing turbulence, in the midst of which the poet has “walked and prayed for this young child an hour.

” Intense and threatening forces surround her a “flooded stream.” The poet symbolizes the sea thus: “ the murderous innocence of the sea.” Despite his apprehensions for his child in this turbulent world, he is hopeful for her.

The poet continues on to comment on his hopes for her beauty:“May she be granted beauty and yet not.” His vacillation is that beauty in women sometimes brings disasters. For example, some such people have a difficult time choosing the right person as a life partner, and neither they can “find a friend.

” The speaker lays emphasis on the need for feminine innocence. The poet advances his argument in the next stanzas by citing examples of beautiful women such as Helen of Troy, whose beauty was said to be the cause of the Trojan War.

By the end, the poet wants his daughter to be courteous, as love cannot come unconditionally and freely. She must earn love with good efforts and kind-heartedness, and she cannot win it by merely physical beauty because “Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned.

” Summing up his theme, the poet wishes his daughter to possess such qualities that could help her face the future years confidently and independently.

Structural Analysis

The poem is written in a lyric form containing ten stanzas with eight lines in each stanza. The poem follows a regular rhyme scheme, which is AABBCDDC as shown below:

I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour  A
And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower,          A
And-under the arches of the bridge, and scream          B
In the elms above the flooded stream;                         B
Imagining in excited reverie                                        C
That the future years had come,                                  D
Dancing to a frenzied drum,                                        D
the murderous innocence of the sea.                C

The meter of this poem alternates between iambic pentameter and trochaic pentameter, as inI have walked and prayed for this young child an hour / And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower.” The poem is rich in literary devices such as symbolism, personification, paradox, sibilance, assonance, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. The line “murderous innocence of the sea” is an example of paradox. Sibilance is found in the words “sea-wind scream,” while “scream” is also an example of an onomatopoeia. The use of personification can be noted in the lines “future years … dancing”, which implies the transience of life. The poet uses symbols such as “sea wind” and “flooded stream” which denote turbulent forces at work. Alliteration is present in the phrase “be granted beauty.”

Guidance for Usage of Quotes

The poem is concerned with the chaotic modern world. It shows a father consumed with apprehension for his daughter’s future in an uncertain political situation.

The father is tense about how he can possibly protect his daughter from the raging storm outside, because she is very beautiful. Therefore, he prays for her as well as gives advice about how to live successfully on earth.

Similarly, modern-day fathers can send quotes from this poem to their daughters as a piece of advice for special occasions:

“In courtesy I’d have her chiefly learned;Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earnedBy those that are not entirely beautiful;Yet many, that have played the foolFor beauty’s very self, has charm made wise,And many a poor man that has roved,Loved and thought himself beloved,

From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes.”

Источник: //literarydevices.net/a-prayer-for-my-daughter/

12 Prayers | Miscarriage & Infant Loss

Prayer For The Loss Of A Baby

I am so honored to be joining with you in prayer again. It is truly a privilege every time we are able to come together before the Father, but it feels even more of a privilege when we carry our hurting brothers and sisters to the throne.

 Our 12 Prayers today are dedicated to the families who have lost babies in miscarriage, still birth, and infant loss. Most of us know of at least a handful of woman, if not more, who have undergone this loss. Perhaps we our selves have gone through this loss.

I can not think of a better gift you can give yourself or others than to pray. Some of you have been through such intense grief and brokenness through the loss of your baby or babies and we want you to know that we are lifting you up today. You are not alone.

The loss of a baby, no matter how long it has been, how short the pregnancy was, whether it was one loss or multiple, is valid and real and today we are praying for you. I want to a say a special thank you to Diana Stone for opening up her heart and voice for us through these prayers.

These prayers are written from the heart of a grieving mother for the hearts of other grieving mothers and fathers, and are being sent straight to God the Father who grieves with us. 

Friends/Family of those who have lost: prayers 1-6

1. Ecclesiastes 3:1-4: “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance.”

 Heavenly Father, as our friend's and family’s losses weigh on our hearts and perplex us in ways we can’t understand, remind us that each season of life is there for a reason.

Lord, help us to have an eternal perspective and to remember that we aren’t made to be happy and whole in this life. Help us to be willing to walk beside our friends and family in whatever season we are given, whether rejoicing or grieving.

Lord, we ask you to break our hearts for the things that break yours. 

2. Psalm 139:14: “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.”

God, we may not understand the depth of grief from a parent who has lost a child. We may not know the loss of a child ourselves.  Maybe we know a different kind of loss.

Give us the clarity to remind ourselves that each and every life comes from you. Each child, no matter the time here, is perfectly made and loved for eternity.

Let us reflect that truth back to those who mourn for the life of a child. 

3. Job 16:20-21: “My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God. Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleads for his neighbor!”

Father, I want to be the kind of friend who walks beside another, even through a time I know nothing about. I want to show others your love and mercy in the midst of their most vulnerable, terrifying moments. Lord, give me your strength and your grace to pour out to my friends. Let my actions and words reflect your love and mercy in each moment I spend with them.

4. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Jesus, the grief-stricken may turn to us with feelings that can overwhelm, leaving us wondering what to say or do. We want to fix it.

We want to offer advice and suggestions because we love them and it pains us to see them suffer. Remind us that in the season of grief, a comforting presence is needed above anything else.

Let us be the ones who hold and cry alongside, recognizing that only you can heal, not us. 

5. Psalm 34:18:  “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.”

God, we see how uncomfortable long-term grief is in our culture, and we know that each of us is guilty of judging someone else in this process. Even others who’ve lost a child can fall into that trap.

We beseech you Jesus: remind us that you draw near to the broken hearted, not away. You do not put a timestamp on grief.

Help us to be near our friends in these moments we don’t fully understand, and to help them look forward to a day when their hurt will be healed in your presence.

6. Romans 8:31-39: “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Lord, we come before you as friends and family searching for healing, comfort, and strength for ones who have lost a child. Our hearts are broken for them, and we long to see them restored.

Help us to remember that we can stand strong when they are weak, encourage them when they are down, and remind them that this is not the end. We will see our loved ones again; we will hold our babies close to us.

Let these powerful words in Romans flow from us living water, so that our friends who grieve might look up and be reminded of the love of Jesus through us. Amen. 

Prayers for the Parents who have lost: prayers 7-12

7.  Job 1:21: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Father, we live in a society unaccustomed to having things taken away. When it’s our children who are taken too soon, the shock and sadness can seem unending.

Give us strength in these times to know that you love our children more than we do, for they are yours first. Our hallelujah may be broken, but it is honest and real.

We may barely lift our eyes to you but our hearts stand firm in knowing you work all things together for good for those who love you. 

8. II CORINTHIANS 4:7-9: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”

We come before you as families torn by death – our children taken from our hands. Jesus, we know this is not the end, though at times it truly does seem it. We are crushed and perplexed.

We don’t understand the purpose in going through so much pain and suffering, but we trust that you are here, weeping beside us. We trust that you know our hearts and our pain.

Thank you for walking with us and carrying us through it. 

9. Job 13:15: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.”

Lord, help us to trust you with the feelings that overwhelm us in moments so dark we can’t see a way out. Let us remember that you know our hearts already. We can confess all our feelings to you and know you will still be holding us tightly. Make us strong in the face of what seems to be defeat. Help us to call out to you for our needs. 

10. Lamentations 3:31-33: “For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.”

As our hearts break and mourn, we are tempted to ask “why” of you, Lord. Why us? Why our children? Why this life? We know we will never get an answer that satisfies our souls in this lifetime. Show us your compassion in place of those answers. Let us feel the peace that surpasses all understanding. Comfort us as we face the unanswerable. 

11.

Isaiah 45: 9-12 “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has not handles?’ Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’ Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him: ‘Ask me of things to come; will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands? I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.’”

God, we know you are the Maker. We know you give and take away. We are but dust in your hands, and yet we know how precious each of your children is to you, including the ones gone too soon. Though we may not see the glory of a short life on this earth, we know you alone can redeem that. Remind us in dark moments that you are redeeming this loss in eternity. 

12. Revelation 21:4: “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Lord, I hold my child and wonder where you are. I cry out in pain and wonder if you hear me. I wonder what kind of a God allows this to happen. Our faith is shaken but, Lord, let it not be taken away.

We know a day is coming when we shall see our little ones again, whole and perfect. They will rejoice with us as we pass into the perfect forever, no separation from anyone, including you.

You will hold them with us, hug us all, heal our hearts, and cast out our suffering. Come soon Lord Jesus. Come soon. 

Thank you all for coming before the throne with us. I hope healing and hope came forth from today. Diana Stone, I cannot thank you enough for opening your heart and life to us through these prayers – they were such a gift.

Thank you to Jessica Bernardin for these beautiful photos that helped us worship. Thank you to my team – Laura Hare, our editor, and Kate Peterson, for helping with graphics. I love the body of Christ. Stay tuned for the next day of prayer in a few weeks.

You do not want to miss it.

Источник: //rachbaxter.com/12prayers/2016/9/25/12-prayers-miscarriage-infant-loss

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