Bedtime Stories Poem by LONDIS CARPENTER

In my childhood, every night, when it was time for bed,
After we prayed for God "my soul to keep; "
I still recall the stories that my Mother to me read—
To comfort me and help me go to sleep.

The bedtime tales she read to me were like a healing balm
When monsters filled my childish heart with fright.
Her gentle voice comforted me and always brought me calm;
Her soothing words protected through the night.

When darkness came to frighten me, Mother was always there;
Her presence helped relieve each childhood care.
Her stories taught me to be brave; how to face every fear;
To rise and meet the devil's every dare.

I'm older and now Mother's gone; I'm in my senior years.
I have a loving Father up above.
When darkness falls and brings to me a different set of fears,
He loves me with a mother's kind of love.

He whispers bedtime stories in dreams that set things right
After I pray "I lay me down to sleep."
I love the bedtime stories Father reads to me each night
To show me that my soul is His to keep.