LEST WE FORGET

FROM DISASTER TO DELIVERANCE

DUNKIRK 1940

This poem was found on the beach at Dunkirk, scrawled on a grimy piece of paper. The author was never identified. Presumably he died there.

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  Stay with me God, the night is dark!
The night is cold, my little spark
Of courage dims, the night is long -
Be with me God and make me strong.
I love a game, I love a fight,
I hate the dark, I love light!
I love my child, I love my wife -
I am no coward, I love life.
Life with its change of mood and shade,
I want to live - I’m not afraid
But me and mine are hard to part -
Oh’ Unknown God, lift up my heart.
You stilled the waters at Dunkirk
And saved your servants, all your work
Is wonderful dear God; you strode
Before us down that dreadful road.
We were alone and hope had fled,
We loved our country and our dead
And could not shame them, so we stayed
The course, and we were not much afraid.
Dear God, that nightmare road! And then
That sea - we got there, we were men!
My eyes were blind, my feet were torn,
My soul sang like a bird at dawn!
I know that death is but a door -
I knew what we were fighting for -
Peace for our kids, our brothers freed,
A kinder world, a cleaner breed.
I’m but the son my mother bore,
A simple man, and nothing more,
But, God of strength and gentleness,
Be pleased to make me nothing less.
Help me again when death is near,
To mock the haggard face of fear -
That when I fall, if fall I must,
My soul may triumph in the dust.

***