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[Page 21]

Flanders  
25.1.18

PLAY THE MAN!

(A soldier's prayer before battle).

O God of Battles, now that time has come,
Which in the pregnant months in camp has been
 The goal of everything, my hope, my fear,
The peril of the thing as yet unseen.

That fear and wounds and death may pass me by,
Is not the boon, O Lord, for which I pray,
For having put the rim within my lips,
I do not ask to put the cup away.

But grant th heart that Thou hast given me
May, in the hour of peril, never fail,
And that my will to serve and do my part
May ever o'er my will to live prevail.

Thou knowest, Lord, my soul doth not fear death,
Although my body craves to live its span;
Help me to grapple with my body's fear,
And grant, O Lord, that I may play the Man.

Ernest G. Black

On the Somme - 1/10/16

AUSTRALIAN Y.M.C.A

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