A PRAYER FOR LITTLE BEAST

O guard, dear pan, so great and wise.

All little beasts with frightened eyes

Who sniff and scrabble in the night

Then scurry off alive with fright.

Hide them in burrow, nest or den

Far from the gins and traps of men.

They ask so little, only these;

Grain from the farmer, mouldy cheese,

A wormy apple in the grass

And nuts for winter store, alas,

How they are hunted out of hand

All up and down their noisy land!

O guard, dear Pan, so great and wise,

All little beast with frightened eyes.

Beulah May.