by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967)

Language: English 
 Lay me on an anvil, O God. 
 Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar.
 Let me pry loose old walls. 
 Let me lift and loosen old foundations. 

 Lay me on an anvil, O God. 
 Beat me and hammer me into a steel spike.
 Drive me into the girders that hold a 
	  skyscraper together. 

 Take red-hot rivets and fasten me into
	  the central girders. 
 Let me be the great nail holding a
	  skyscraper through blue nights into
	  white stars.

Composition:

    Set to music by Ruth Crawford-Seeger (1901 - 1953), "Prayers of Steel", published 1973 [ contralto, oboe, percussion, piano, with or without orchestral ostinato ], from Three Songs, no. 2

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this page: John Versmoren

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 80