Mark TWAIN. (№ 451834)

Lord our God, our young patriots, the idols of our hearts, go into battle - be with them! In our thoughts, together with them, we leave the peace and warmth of our dear hearths and go to smash our enemies. Lord our God, help us smash their soldiers to bloody shreds with shells; help us to litter their flowering fields with the lifeless corpses of their patriots; help us drown out the roar of the guns with the cries of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us with a hurricane of fire to raze their modest dwellings to the ground; help us to torment the hearts of their innocent widows with inconsolable grief; help us to deprive them of friends and shelter, so that they roam with their little children through the barren plains of their devastated country, in tatters, tormented by thirst and hunger, scorched by the sun in summer, trembling from the icy wind in winter, completely despairing, vainly begging you to open before them the doors of the grave so that they may find rest; for us who worship you, O Lord, crush their hopes to ashes, ruin their lives, prolong their woeful wanderings, make their steps heavier, sprinkle their path with tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! With love and faith, we pray for this to the one who is the source of love, a true friend and refuge for all those who suffer, who seek his help with a humble heart and a penitent soul. Amen.