Prayers of Steel

Rupert Hughes

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.