The Efficacy of Prayer by Casey Motsisi
They called him Dan the Drunk.
The old people refuse to say how old he was.
Nobody knows where he came from - but they all called him Dan the Drunk.
He was a drunk, but perhaps his name was not really Dan.
Who knows, he might have been Sam.
But why bother, he's dead, poor Dan.
Gave him a pauper's funeral, they did.
Just dumped him into a hole to rest in eternal drunkenness.
Somehow the old people are glad that Dan the Drunk is dead.
Ghastly!
They say he was a bad influence on the children.
But the kids are sad that Dan the Drunk is no more.
No more will the kids frolic to the music that used to
flow out of his battered concertina. Or listen to the tales
he used to tell. All followed him into that pauper's hole.
How the kids used to worship Dan the Drunk!
He was just one of them grown older too soon.
'I'm going to be just like Dan the Drunk,'
A little girl said to her parents of a night cold
While they crowded around a sleepy brazier.
The parents looked at each other and their eyes prayed:
'God Almighty, save our little Sally.'
God heard their prayer.
He saved their Sally.
Prayer. It can work miracles.
Sally grew up to become a nanny...
Questions
Pre-reading Exercise
In groups, discuss what job you would like to do when you leave school. Make a list of the five most desirable jobs.
- Why do you think the old people called the drunk Dan?
- Why do you think they 'refused' to say how old he was?
- Why are the old people 'glad' that Dan is dead?
- Why are the kids 'sad' that he is dead?
- How did God "save" Sally?
- Does the poet really believe it was a 'miracle'? Explain your answer.
- If it is not a miracle, why do the parents believe that it is?
