1 Lord God that dost me save and keep, All day to thee I cry; All all night long, before thee @3weep@1 Before thee @3prostrate lie@1. 2 Into thy presence let my prayer @3With sighs devout ascend@1; And to my cries, that @3ceaseless are@1, Thine ear with favour bend. 3 For cloyed with woes and trouble store Surcharged my soul doth lie; My life @3at death's uncheerful door@1 Unto the grave draws nigh. 4 Reckoned I am with them that pass Down to the @3dismal@1 pit; I am a man, but weak alas And for that name unfit. 5 From life discharged and parted quite Among the dead @3to sleep@1, And like the slain @3in bloody fight@1 That in the grave lie @3deep@1, Whom thou rememberest no more, Dost never more regard: Them from thy hand delivered o'er @3Death's hideous house hath barred@1. 6 Thou in the lowest pit @3profound@1 Hast set me @3all forlorn@1, Where thickest darkness @3hovers round@1, In horrid deeps @3to mourn@1. 7 Thy wrath @3from which no shelter saves@1 Full sore doth press on me; Thou break'st upon me all thy waves, And all thy waves break me. 8 Thou dost my friends from me estrange, And mak'st me odious, Me to them odious, @3for they change@1, And I here pent up thus. 9 Through sorrow, and affliction great Mine eye grows dim and dead; Lord all the day I thee entreat, My hands to thee I spread. 10 Wilt thou do wonders on the dead? Shall the deceased arise And praise thee @3from their loathsome bed With pale and hollow eyes@1? 11 Shall they thy loving kindness tell On whom the grave @3hath hold@1, Or they @3who@1 in perdition @3dwell@1 Thy faithfulness @3unfold@1? 12 In darkness can thy mighty @3hand Or@1 wondrous acts be known? Thy justice in the @3gloomy@1 land Of @3dark@1 oblivion? 13 But I to thee O Lord do cry @3Ere yet my life be spent@1, And @3up to thee@1 my prayer @3doth hie@1 Each morn, and thee prevent. 14 Why wilt thou Lord my soul forsake, And hide thy face from me, 15 That am already bruised, and shake With terror sent from thee; Bruised, and afflicted and @3so low@1 As ready to expire, While I thy terrors undergo Astonished with thine ire. 16 Thy fierce wrath over me doth flow, Thy threat'nings cut me through. 17 All day they round about me go, Like waves they me pursue. 18 Lover and friend thou hast removed And severed from me far. They @3fly me now@1 whom I have loved, And as in darkness are. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FLY, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE RAIN-SONGS by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE INDIAN BURYING GROUND by PHILIP FRENEAU AT CASTERBRIDGE FAIR: 7. AFTER THE FAIR by THOMAS HARDY ROBERT E. LEE by JULIA WARD HOWE CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS |