Lord, hear my prayer when trouble glooms, Let sorrow find a way, And when the day of trouble comes, Turn not thy face away: My bones like hearthstones burn away, My life like vapoury smoke decays. My heart is smitten like the grass, That withered lies and dead, And I, so lost to what I was, Forget to eat my bread. My voice is groaning all the day, My bones prick through this skin of clay. The wilderness's pelican, The desert's lonely owl -- I am their like, a desert man In ways as lone and foul. As sparrows on the cottage top I wait till I with fainting drop. I hear my enemies reproach, All silently I mourn; They on my private peace encroach, Against me they are sworn. Ashes as bread my trouble shares, And mix my food with weeping cares. Yet not for them is sorrow's toil, I fear no mortal's frowns -- But thou hast held me up awhile And thou has cast me down. My days like shadows waste from view, I mourn like withered grass in dew. But thou Lord shall endure forever All generations through Thou shalt to Zion be the giver Of joy & mercy too Her very stones are in their trust Thy servants reverence her dust Heathens shall hear and fear thy name All kings of earth thy glory know When thou shalt build up Zion's fame & live in glory there below He'll not despise their prayers though mute But still regard the destitute | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LIP AND THE HEART by JOHN QUINCY ADAMS ON SENESIS' MUMMY by LEONIE ADAMS STORM AT SEA (2) by ALCAEUS OF MYTILENE BEETHOVEN'S SEVENTH SYMPHONY by LYMAN WHITNEY ALLEN THE HWOMESTEAD by WILLIAM BARNES STANZAS TO WILLIAM ROSCOE, ESQ. by BERNARD BARTON |