God of Our Fathers, Known of Old

God of our fa­thers

known of old

Lord of our far flung bat­tle line

Beneath whose aw­ful hand we hold

Dominion ov­er palm and pine—

Lord God of Hosts

be with us yet

Lest we for­get—lest we for­get!

The tu­mult and the shout­ing dies;

The cap­tains and the kings de­part:

Still stands Thine an­cient sac­ri­fice

A hum­ble and a con­trite heart.

Lord God of Hosts

be with us yet

Lest we for­get—lest we for­get!

Far called

our na­vies melt away;

On dune and head­land sinks the fire:

Lo

all our pomp of yes­ter­day

Is one with Ni­ne­veh and Tyre!

Judge of the na­tions

spare us yet

Lest we for­get—lest we for­get!

If

drunk with sight of pow­er

we loose

Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe

Such boast­ings as the Gen­tiles use

Or less­er breeds with­out the Law—

Lord God of Hosts

be with us yet

Lest we for­get—lest we for­get!

For hea­then heart that puts her trust

In reek­ing tube and ir­on shard

All val­iant dust that builds on dust

And guard­ing

calls not Thee to guard

For fran­tic boast and fool­ish word—

Thy mer­cy on Thy peo­ple

Lord!