What Wilt Thou Have Me To Do?

Lord, what wilt Thou that I should do?
What is my task?
This question, leaping from my heart,
I kneel to ask.
What place of duty can I fill?
Where can I go
To lighten, in Thy holy name,
Another’s woe?

So many hearts are torn today,
So many weep;
So many souls are passing now
Through waters deep;
So many bear their loads alone,
Without Thy grace;
So many have not found in Thee
A resting place.

‘Mid scream of shells and roar of gun
Men bleed and die;
Gaunt hunger stalks through many lands,
Where children cry;
Whole nations groan beneath the lash
Of conqueror’s sway;
Were ever miseries so rife
As in this day?

In such a world, with needs so vast,
What can I do?
Fill Thou my heart with love like Thine,
With pity, too.
Here are my hands, my feet, my all;
Lead Thou the way,
Where I may do Thy works again,
“While it is day.”

Thomas O. Chisholm