1 Once in my boyhood’s gladsome day,
My spirits light as air,
I wandered to a lonely room
Where mother knelt in prayer,
Where mother knelt in prayer,
Where mother knelt in prayer,
I wandered to a lonely room,
Where mother knelt in prayer.

2 My hands were clasped in fervency,
Her lips gave forth no sound,
Yet, awestruck, solemnly I felt
I stood on holy ground—
Where mother knelt in prayer,
Where mother knelt in prayer,
I felt I stood on holy ground,
Where mother knelt in prayer.

3 My mother, all entranced in prayer,
My presence heeded not,
And rev’rently I turned away
In silence from the spot—
Where mother knelt in prayer,
Where mother knelt in prayer,
I turned in silence from the spot,
Where mother knelt in prayer.

4 An orphaned wand’rer, far from home,
In after time I strayed;
But God has kept me, and I feel
He heard her when she prayed,
He heard her when she prayed,
He heard her when she prayed,
But God has kept me, and I feel
He heard her when she prayed.