by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967)
Lay me on an anvil, O God
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.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967), "Prayers of Steel", appears in Cornhuskers, first published 1918 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Paul Christiansen , "Prayers of Steel", published 1950 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- 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 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Rupert Hughes (1872 - 1956), "The Prayer of Steel", published 1922 [ medium voice or low voice and piano ], from Free Verse Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by James Houston Spencer (1895 - 1967), "Prayers of Steel", published 1937 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: John Versmoren
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 79