In Cornwall and Across the Sea With Poems Written in Devonshire. By Douglas B. W. Sladen |
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 | In Cornwall and Across the Sea |  |
245
PRAYING FOR GORDON.
[In the Churches of England, Sunday Feb. 8th, 1885.]
Praying for Gordon—if in Khartoum,
Waiting, we know, in his valiant way
At an instant's notice to meet his doom,
A man who has walked with his God alway,
With God for his country, who stood at bay
Forsaken in Africa far away.
Waiting, we know, in his valiant way
At an instant's notice to meet his doom,
A man who has walked with his God alway,
With God for his country, who stood at bay
Forsaken in Africa far away.
Surely God would not forsake his own,
Even though praying there had been none;
But He has promised when two or three
Are gathered together, with them to be:
And our prayers are rising to heaven, we hope,
But our thoughts are straying across the sea
To the handful of English sent out to cope
With a barbarous foe in a far off land,
Wearied with marching on burning sand,
And weak with the wounded of Abou Klea,
But strong in the spirit which aye has brought,
On many a doubtful and desperate day,
The “thin red line,” when it stood at bay,
To hold the “positions,” for which it fought.
But hear us, Father, while we pray
For those in peril on the land,
As thou of late heardst those who be
On land, when we were on the sea,
Voyaging past the Red Sea coast,
Abreast of the beleaguered host,
Hear us and stretch a shielding hand
Over thy servant—if in Khartoum,
Waiting, we know, in his valiant way
At an instant's notice to meet his doom,
As ready to face his God as the fray.
Even though praying there had been none;
But He has promised when two or three
Are gathered together, with them to be:
And our prayers are rising to heaven, we hope,
But our thoughts are straying across the sea
To the handful of English sent out to cope
With a barbarous foe in a far off land,
Wearied with marching on burning sand,
And weak with the wounded of Abou Klea,
But strong in the spirit which aye has brought,
On many a doubtful and desperate day,
The “thin red line,” when it stood at bay,
To hold the “positions,” for which it fought.
246
For those in peril on the land,
As thou of late heardst those who be
On land, when we were on the sea,
Voyaging past the Red Sea coast,
Abreast of the beleaguered host,
Hear us and stretch a shielding hand
Over thy servant—if in Khartoum,
Waiting, we know, in his valiant way
At an instant's notice to meet his doom,
As ready to face his God as the fray.
| In Cornwall and Across the Sea | |