I HAVE leaned on God

And have been comforted by Him :

My fears have been allayed ;

My terror of Death has been forgotten ;

My frightened heart

Has ceased its knocking ;

And my pulse has steadied,

And my resolution cleared and steeled.

I have placed my life in His hands

To take or leave,

To break or fracture--

As a lover gives her all,

Her body and her soul,

Unto the man she loves,

So I have given my all to God,

Surrendered to His Will

In absolute submission :

And in the hour of battle I am unafraid,

And I can put my finger to my nose at Death,

For I am not my own, but God's.

If He should will it,

He will put a bullet thro' my head ;

Or tear my limbs asunder with a shell;

Or glean my entrails out;

Or make me foam and choke with gas:

And 'twill be well.

But, if He will it,

He will turn the bullets in their flight;

Will make a stoppage in a gun ;

Or make a gunner's hand to tremble,

That his aim be false--

And winds of bullets will cool my cheeks,

And shrapnel fall like blossoms on my head !