GOD'S NEW YEAR'S GIFT
Reading edition
What shall the coming year bring forth, O Lord, who rulest the land? For the navies of the sea and air Are but stubble in Thy hand. The battalions in the field go forth; They arm in mighty line; Do they kneel to know Thy holy will? Have they asked from Thee a sign?
The kings invoke Thy holy name, In their carnage and their strife; But the purple gift it was Thine to give Recks not of pity nor life: For they're drunk with the wine of lustful power, And seared with the sins of earth; And their prayers and preachments now mock Thy name, And make of Thy laws but mirth.
January 1, 1916.
For Duncan Campbell Scott.