By all the glories of the day,And the cool evening's benison:By the last sunset touch that layUpon the hills when day was done:By beauty lavishly outpoured,And blessings carelessly received,By all the days that I have lived,Make me a soldier, Lord.
By all of all men's hopes and fears,And all the wonders poets sing,The laughter of unclouded years,And every sad and lovely thing:By the romantic ages storedWith high endeavour that was his,By all his mad catastrophes,Make me a man, O Lord.
I, that on my familiar hillSaw with uncomprehending eyesA hundred of Thy sunsets spillTheir fresh and sanguine sacrifice,Ere the sun swings his noonday swordMust say good-bye to all of this: --By all delights that I shall miss,Help me to die, O Lord.
