Sir Nigel's Song
Sir Nigel's Song (originally published as A Soldier's Prayer) is a poem written by Arthur Conan Doyle first published in The Nassau Press in july 1899.
The last strophe (manuscript in The Nassau Press) wasn't published in the collected volumes.
Editions
- in Souvenir of the Charing Cross Hospital Bazaar (july 1899, The Nassau Press [UK]) as A Soldier's Prayer (1 photo)
- Sir Nigel's Song (1907, Edwin Ashdown [UK])
- in Songs of the Road (16 march 1911, Smith, Elder & Co. [UK])
- in Songs of the Road (october 1911, Doubleday, Page & Co. [US])
- in Songs of the Road (27 january 1920, John Murray [UK])
- in Songs of the Road (february 1920, John Murray [UK])
- in The Poems of Arthur Conan Doyle (21 september 1922, John Murray [UK])
- in The Poems of Arthur Conan Doyle (14 september 1928, John Murray's Fiction Library [UK])
Sir Nigel's Song
A sword! A sword! Ah, give me a sword!
For the world is all to win.
Though the way be hard and the door be barred,
The strong man enters in.
If Chance or Fate still hold the gate,
Give me the iron key,
And turret high, my plume shall fly,
Or you may weep for me!
A horse! A horse! Ah, give me a horse,
To bear me out afar,
Where blackest need and grimmest deed,
And sweetest perils are.
Hold thou my ways from glutted days,
Where poisoned leisure lies,
And point the path of tears and wrath
Which mounts to high emprise.
A heart! A heart! Ah, give me a heart,
To rise to circumstance!
Serene and high, and bold to try
The hazard of a chance.
With strength to wait, but fixed as fate,
To plan and dare and do;
The peer of all — and only thrall,
Sweet lady mine, to you!
The hazard of the chance,
With strength to wait
But fixed as fate
To plain and dare and do,
The peer of all,
And only thrall
Sweet lady mine to you.
- A. Conan Doyle
