1 DECEMBER 1944, Page 9

MISERERE : AUXILIARY HOSPITAL, 1944

LORD, what are we, that these should pay

Such price of pain, for us to stay Safe and at ease, beyond the reach Of armed assault along the beach?

To save us from the fate of slaves These, by a fraction, missed their graves To sweat with pain, and lie awake

For our most undeserving sake—

Like Thee, they pay too great a price: We are not worth such sacrifice ; With shame, we watch them joke and grin, Nailed on the cross of others' sin.

O Christ, who also bled and died, Look down on these Thy crucified, On women, dumb beneath their loss, And us, blind fools, who built their cross. Runt HEDGER.