A Prayer by Sheila Kaye-Smith (1914)
"A Prayer" is a first-person poem in which the speaker addresses God directly, asking to die on his feet, upright and boldly facing his death rather than succumbing passively. He asks for eyes undimmed as he looks into the darkness, and to hail death as a conqueror before death strikes him down. He asks to die with his head up, sword drawn, his shield flung from him, remaining stout to the end while proud to win his discharge at last, running with worshipping clear gaze to meet the future, and making his farewells to the past with forgiving laughter. He asks not to die in his bed in weariness and weakness, while outside, undesired and unheard, all valiant nature calls to him. He asks to be saved from tumbled sheets, drawn blinds, and muffled footsteps, and from staring eyes that would pity him when his last anguish falls. He asks Lord to let him die in his boots, declaring he cares not where death meets him, so long as he dies upright and armed, with a free unclouded mind. He asks to relish in their fullness the last moments life shall give him, then plunge on without vain regrets for vain things left behind. He asks to meet death on the waters amid the din of the waves' roaring, in the shattering of the thunder when the splitting timbers break, or on the mountains, riding the shrieking snow-storm, declaring he cares not where death finds him, so long as death finds him awake. He closes by declaring he cares not how he meets death, so long as he meets him as a warrior and not as a slave to the master death has been given cause to frown upon. He vows he will challenge death to combat, and that when death sees him fearless, death will hail him as a conqueror before he strikes him down.
By Sheila Kaye-Smith · First published 1914 · Genre: Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Spiritual Poetry · 377 words
First lines
Lord, let me die on my feet -- upright and boldly facing / My last sad great adventure and experience's crown, / Let my eyes be all undimmed as they look into the darkness, / Let me hail death as a conqueror before he strikes me down.
Let me die with my head up, sword drawn, my shield flung from me, / Stout to the end, yet proud to win my discharge at last, / With worshipping clear gaze let me run to meet the future, / And with forgiving laughter make my farewells to the past.
Similar titles
- Lifes Song by Ruth Collie
- The Souls Farewell To The Body by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
- To A Florists Window by Ruth Collie
- Human Life On The Denial Of Immortality by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Despair by Francis Neilson
- After Shells by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Genres
- Poetry — Written in verse form with structured rhyme scheme and meter, establishing the fundamental poetic form.
- Lyric Poetry — Expresses deep personal emotion and philosophical reflection through elevated language and rhythmic verse.
- Spiritual Poetry — Directly addresses God ('Lord') and contemplates the spiritual dimensions of mortality and human dignity.
- Philosophical Poetry — Constitutes a meditation on mortality, virtue, courage, and the ideal manner of confronting death.
Tags
prayer · death · dying · mortality · courage · defiance · dignity · warrior · combat · consciousness · fate · freedom
What this Textopian page supports
A Prayer is listed on Textopian as a poem by Sheila Kaye-Smith, dated 1914 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Sheila Kaye-Smith
- Date: 1914 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Spiritual Poetry, Philosophical Poetry, Death Literature
- Length: 377 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for A Prayer by Sheila Kaye-Smith
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph