1933
Prayers of Steel
Composed by 
Ruth Crawford Seeger
Ruth Crawford Seeger Text by 
Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg Three Songs Song Collection
"Prayers of Steel" is the second song of Ruth Crawford Seeger's cycle Three Songs, which sets texts by Carl Sandburg.
Text
Prayers of Steel
by Carl Sandburg
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, 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.
Sheet Music
Three Songs
Ruth Crawford Seeger
1. Rat Riddles
2. Prayers of Steel
3. In Tall Grass
2. Prayers of Steel
3. In Tall Grass