PRAYER OF A SOLDIER IN FRANCE
by: Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)
- Y shoulders
ache beneath my pack
- (Lie easier, Cross, upon His back).
-
- I march with feet that burn and smart
- (Tread, Holy Feet, upon my heart).
-
- Men shout at me who may not speak
- (They scourged Thy back and smote Thy cheek).
-
- I may not lift a hand to clear
- My eyes of salty drops that sear.
-
- (Then shall my fickle soul forget
- Thy agony of Bloody Sweat?)
-
- My rifle hand is stiff and numb
(From Thy pierced palm red rivers come).
-
- Lord, Thou didst suffer more for me
Than all the hosts of land and sea.
-
- So let me render back again
This millionth of Thy gift. Amen.
"Prayer of a Soldier in France"
was originally published in Joyce Kilmer. Ed. Robert Cortes
Holliday. New York: Kennikat Press, 1918. |
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