Hagar

LONE in the wilderness, her child and she,

Sits the dark beauty, and her fierce-eyed boy.

A heavy burden and no winsome toy

To such as she, a hanging babe must be.

A slave without a master—wild, nor free,

With anger in her heart! and in her face

Shame for foul wrong and undeserved disgrace,

Poor Hagar mourns her lost virginity!

Poor woman fear not—God is everywhere;

The silent tears, thy thirsty infant’s moan,

Are known to Him whose never-absent care

Still wakes to make all hearts and souls his own;

He sends an angel from beneath his throne

To cheer the outcast in the desert bare.