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Prayers of Steel

by Carl Sandburg, 1918

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.

Published in Cornhuskers
Tags: americana, buildings, cities, religion, work

Any corrections or public domain poems I should have here? Email me at poems (at) this domain.