The Famine Contrast

Now, when a famine does appear

At first, the poor are filled with fear

They hear their children beg and cry

As one by one their darlings die

Oh, how that mother must have prayed

When on the bed her babe she laid

And watched her baby's startled sleep

When all that she could do was weep

Perhaps she hears him in her dreams

Perhaps it is with startled screams

He puts his cold hands on her head

And begs for just one crumb of bread

I think I hear that mother say

All I can do, my dear, is pray

So many times she's prayed for bread

It may be now, she prays instead

That he may find relief in death

As on her cheek, she feels his breath

And ere the morning, bowed with care

She has the answer to her prayer

Over all the land the famine swept

From every nook the serpent crept

And said"I hope it now will suit

To pay some interest on that fruit

Then back unto his safe retreat

The serpent went, but did repeat

That same demand that he once made

On Adam, when beneath the shade

Adam sat with Eve, his fair young bride

With peace and joy on every side

How little Adam must have thought

Of all the surrerings that he will have brought

Upon himself and others too

By doing as he chose to do

By taking from the hand of Eve

Some of the fruit she did receive

From that old serpent, Satan's clerk

Which caused mankind to have to work

Yes, toil to get the daily bread

By which the loved ones may be fed

But on this labor and this sweat

Will never satisfy that debt

Will never wipe away the trace

Or blot from record that disgrace

And as the serpent did retreat

Perhaps the thought to him was sweet

That while man on himself relies

The debt could not be satisfied

I need a savior