72 Prayer poems

O Lord, my praying hear; Lord, let my cry come to thine ear. Hide not thy face away, But haste, and answer me, In this my most, most miserable day, Wherein I pray and cry to thee. My days as smoke are past; My bones as flaming fuel waste, Mown down in me, alas. With scythe of sharpest pain. My heart is withered like the wounded grass; My stomach doth all food disdain. So lean my woes me leave, That to my flesh my bones do cleave; And so I bray and howl, As use to howl and bray The lonely pelican and desert owl, Like whom I languish long the day. I languish so the day, The night in watch I waste away; Right as the sparrow sits, Bereft of spouse, or son, Which irked alone with dolor’s deadly fits To company will not be won. As day to day succeeds, So shame on shame to me proceeds From them that do me hate, Who of my wrack so boast, That wishing ill, they wish but my estate, Yet think they wish of ills the most. Therefore my bread is clay; Therefore my tears my wine allay. For how else should it be, Sith thou still angry art, And seem’st for naught to have advanced me, But me advanced to subvert? The sun of my life-days Inclines to west with falling rays, And I as hay am dried, While yet in steadfast seat Eternal thou eternally dost bide, Thy memory no years can fret. Oh, then at length arise; On Zion cast thy mercy’s eyes. Now is the time that thou To mercy shouldst incline Concerning her: O Lord, the time is now Thyself for mercy didst assign. Thy servants wait the day When she, who like a carcass lay Stretched forth in ruin’s bier, Shall so arise and live, The nations all Jehova’s name shall fear, All kings to thee shall glory give. Because thou hast anew Made Zion stand, restored to view Thy glorious presence there, Because thou hast, I say, Beheld our woes and not refused to hear What wretched we did plaining pray, This of record shall bide To this and every age beside. And they commend thee shall Whom thou anew shall make, That from the prospect of thy heav’nly hall Thy eye of earth survey did take, Heark’ning to prisoners’ groans, And setting free condemned ones, That they, when nations come, And realms to serve the Lord, In Zion and in Salem might become Fit means his honor to record. But what is this if I In the mid way should fall and die? My God, to thee I pray, Who canst my prayer give. Turn not to night the noontide of my day, Since endless thou dost ageless live. The earth, the heaven stands Once founded, formed by thy hands: They perish, thou shalt bide; They old, as clothes shall wear, Till changing still, full change shall them betide, Unclothed of all the clothes they bear. But thou art one, still one: Time interest in thee hath none. Then hope, who godly be, Or come of godly race: Endless your bliss, as never ending he, His presence your unchanged place.

Miracles Attending Israel’s Journey When Isr’el, freed from Pharaoh’s hand, Left the proud tyrant and his land, The tribes with cheerful homage own Their king; and Judah was his throne. Across the deep their journey lay; The deep divides to make them way. Jordan beheld their march, and led, With backward current, to his head. The mountains shook like frighted sheep, Like lambs the little hillocks leap; Not Sinai on her base could stand, Conscious of sov’reign pow’r at hand. What pow’r could make the deep divide? Make Jordan backward roll his tide? Why did ye leap, ye little hills? And whence the fright that Sinai feels? Let ev’ry mountain, ev’ry flood, Retire and know th’ approaching God, The King of Isr’el: see him here! Tremble, thou earth, adore and fear. He thunders, and all nature mourns; The rock to standing pools he turns, Flints spring with fountains at his word, And fires and seas confess the Lord.

When Israel came from Egypt’s coast, And Goshen’s marshy plains, And Jacob with his joyful host From servitude and chains; Then was it seen how much the Jews Were holy in his sight, And God did Israel’s kingdom choose To manifest his might. The sea beheld it, and with dread Retreated to make way; And Jordan to his fountain head Ran backwards in dismay. The mountains, like the rams that bound, Exulted on their base; Like lambs the little hills around Skipt lightly from their place. What is the cause, thou mighty sea, That thou thyself should shun; And Jordan, what is come to thee, That thou should backward run? Ye mountains that ye leaped so high From off the solid rock, Ye hills that ye should gambols try, Like firstlings of the flock? Earth, from the center to the sod His fearful presence hail The presence of Jeshurun’s God, In whom our arms prevail. Who beds of rocks in pools to stand Can by his word compel, And from the veiny flint command The fountain and the well.

Some folks fool themselves into believing, But I know what I know once, at the height Of hopeless touching, my man and I hold Our breaths, certain we can stop time or maybe Eliminate it from our lives, which are shorter Since we learned to make love for each other Rather than doing it to each other. As for praise And worship, I prefer the latter. Only memory Makes us kneel, silent and still. Hear me? Thunder scares. Lightning lets us see. Then, Heads covered, we wait for rain. Dear Lord, Let me watch for his arrival and hang my head And shake it like a man who's lost and lived. Something keeps trying, but I'm not killed yet.

O Lord, whose grace no limits comprehend; Sweet Lord, whose mercies stand from measure free; To me that grace, to me that mercy send, And wipe, O Lord, my sins from sinful me. Oh, cleanse, oh, wash, my foul iniquity; Cleanse still my spots, still wash away my stainings, Till stains and spots in me leave no remainings. For I, alas, acknowledging do know My filthy fault, my faulty filthiness To my soul’s eye incessantly doth show, Which done to thee, to thee I do confess, Just judge, true witness, that for righteousness Thy doom may pass against my guilt awarded, Thy evidence for truth may be regarded. My mother, lo, when I began to be, Conceiving me, with me did sin conceive: And as with living heat she cherished me, Corruption did like cherishing receive. But, lo, thy love to purest good doth cleave, And inward truth: which, hardly else discerned, My truant soul in thy hid school hath learned. Then as thyself to lepers hast assigned, With hyssop, Lord, thy hyssop, purge me so: And that shall cleanse the lepry of my mind. Make over me thy mercy’s streams to flow, So shall my whiteness scorn the whitest snow. To ear and heart send sounds and thoughts of gladness, That bruised bones may dance away their sadness. Thy ill-pleased eye from my misdeeds avert: Cancel the registers my sins contain: Create in me a pure, clean, spotless heart; Inspire a sprite where love of right may reign Ah, cast me not from thee; take not again Thy breathing grace; again thy comfort send me, And let the guard of thy free sprite attend me. So I to them a guiding hand will be, Whose faulty feet have wandered from thy way, And turned from sin will make return to thee, Whom turned from thee sin erst had led astray. O God, God of my health, oh, do away My bloody crime: so shall my tongue be raised To praise thy truth, enough cannot be praised. Unlock my lips, shut up with sinful shame: Then shall my mouth, O Lord, thy honor sing. For bleeding fuel for thy altar’s flame, To gain thy grace what boots it me to bring? Burt-off’rings are to thee no pleasant thing. The sacrifice that God will hold respected, Is the heart-broken soul, the sprite dejected. Lastly, O Lord, how so I stand or fall, Leave not thy loved Zion to embrace; But with thy favor build up Salem’s wall, And still in peace, maintain that peaceful place. Then shalt thou turn a well-accepting face To sacred fires with offered gifts perfumed: Till ev’n whole calves on altars be consumed.

My God, most glad to look, most prone to hear, An open ear, oh, let my prayer find, And from my plaint turn not thy face away. Behold my gestures, hearken what I say, While uttering moans with most tormented mind, My body I no less torment and tear. For, lo, their fearful threat’nings would mine ear, Who griefs on griefs on me still heaping lay, A mark to wrath and hate and wrong assigned; Therefore, my heart hath all his force resigned To trembling pants; death terrors on me pray; I fear, nay, shake, nay, quiv’ring quake with fear. Then say I, oh, might I but cut the wind, Borne on the wing the fearful dove doth bear: Stay would I not, till I in rest might stay. Far hence, oh, far, then would I take my way Unto the desert, and repose me there, These storms of woe, these tempests left behind. But swallow them, O Lord, in darkness blind, Confound their counsels, lead their tongues astray, That what they mean by words may not appear. For mother Wrong within their town each where, And daughter Strife their ensigns so display, As if they only thither were confined. These walk their city walls both night and day; Oppressions, tumults, guiles of every kind Are burgesses and dwell the middle near; About their streets his masking robes doth wear Mischief clothed in deceit, with treason lined, Where only he, he only bears the sway. But not my foe with me this prank did play, For then I would have borne with patient cheer An unkind part from whom I know unkind, Nor he whose forehead Envy’s mark had signed, His trophies on my ruins sought to rear, From whom to fly I might have made assay. But this to thee, to thee impute I may, My fellow, my companion, held most dear, My soul, my other self, my inward friend: Whom unto me, me unto whom did bind Exchanged secrets, who together were God’s temple wont to visit, there to pray. Oh, let a sudden death work their decay, Who speaking fair such cankered malice mind, Let them be buried breathing in their bier; But purple morn, black ev’n, and midday clear Shall see my praying voice to God inclined, Rousing him up, and naught shall me dismay. He ransomed me; he for my safety fined In fight where many sought my soul to slay; He, still himself to no succeeding heir Leaving his empire shall no more forbear But at my motion, all these atheists pay, By whom, still one, such mischiefs are designed. Who but such caitiffs would have undermined, Nay, overthrown, from whom but kindness mere They never found? Who would such trust betray? What buttered words! Yet war their hearts bewray. Their speech more sharp than sharpest sword or spear Yet softer flows than balm from wounded rind. But my o’erloaden soul, thyself upcheer, Cast on God’s shoulders what thee down doth weigh Long borne by thee with bearing pained and pined: To care for thee he shall be ever kind; By him the just in safety held away Changeless shall enter, live, and leave the year: But, Lord, how long shall these men tarry here? Fling them in pit of death where never shined The light of life, and while I make my stay On thee, let who their thirst with blood allay Have their life-holding thread so weakly twined That it, half-spun, death may in sunder shear.

Warning to Magistrates Judges, who rule the world by laws, Will ye despise the righteous cause, When th’injur’d poor before you stands? Dare ye condemn the righteous poor, And let rich sinners ’scape secure, While gold and greatness bribe your hands? Have ye forgot or never knew That God will judge the judges too? High in the Heavens his justice reigns; Yet you invade the rights of God, And send your bold decrees abroad To bind the conscience in your chains. A poisoned arrow is your tongue, The arrow sharp, the poison strong, And death attends where e’er it wounds: You hear no counsels, cries or tears; So the deaf adder stops her ears Against the power of charming sounds. Break out their teeth, eternal God, Those teeth of lions dyed in blood; And crush the serpents in the dust: As empty chaff, when whirlwinds rise, Before the sweeping tempest flies, So let their hopes and names be lost. Th’Almighty thunders from the sky, Their grandeur melts, their titles die, As hills of snow dissolve and run, Or snails that perish in their slime, Or births that come before their time, Vain births, that never see the sun. Thus shall the vengeance of the Lord Safety and joy to saints afford; And all that hear shall join and say, “Sure there’s a God that rules on high, “A God that hears his children cry, “And will their sufferings well repay.”

Ye congregation of the tribes, On justice do you set your mind; And are ye free from guile and bribes Ye judges of mankind? Nay, ye of frail and mortal mould Imagine mischief in your heart; Your suffrages and selves are sold Unto the general mart. Men of unrighteous seed betray Perverseness from their mother’s womb; As soon as they can run astray, Against the truth presume. They are with foul infection stained, Ev’n with the serpent’s taint impure; Their ears to blest persuasion chained, And locked against her lure. Though Christ himself the pipe should tune, They will not to the measure tread, Nor will they with his grief commune Though tears of blood he shed. Lord, humanize their scoff and scorn, And their malevolence defeat; Of water and the spirit born Let grace their change complete. Let them with pious ardor burn, And make thy holy church their choice; To thee with all their passions turn, And in thy light rejoice. As quick as lightning to its mark, So let thy gracious angel speed; And take their spirits in thine ark To their eternal mead. The righteous shall exult the more As he such powerful mercy sees, Such wrecks and ruins safe on shore, Such tortured souls at ease. So that a man shall say, no doubt, The penitent has his reward; There is a God to bear him out, And he is Christ our Lord.

How lovely is thy dwelling, Great god, to whom all greatness is belonging! To view thy courts far, far from any telling My soul doth long and pine with longing Unto the God that liveth, The God that all life giveth, My heart and body both aspire, Above delight, beyond desire. Alas, the sparrow knoweth The house where free and fearless she resideth; Directly to the nest the swallow goeth, Where with her sons she safe abideth. Oh, altars thine, most mighty In war, yea, most almighty: Thy altars, Lord, ah, why should I From altars thine excluded lie? Oh, happy who remaineth Thy household-man and still thy praise unfoldeth! Oh, happy who himself on thee sustaineth, Who to thy house his journey holdeth! Me seems I see them going Where mulberries are growing: How wells they dig in thirsty plain, And cisterns make for falling rain. Me seems I see augmented Still troop with troop, till all at length discover Zion, where to their sight is represented The Lord of hosts, the Zion lover. O Lord, O God, most mighty In war, yea, most almighty: Hear what I beg; hearken, I say, O Jacob’s God, to what I pray. Thou art the shield us shieldeth: Then, Lord, behold the face of thine anointed One day spent in thy courts more comfort yieldeth Than thousands otherwise appointed. I count it clearer pleasure To spend my age’s treasure Waiting a porter at thy gates Than dwell a lord with wicked mates. Thou art the sun that shineth; Thou art the buckler, Lord that us defendeth: Glory and grace Jehovah’s hand assigneth And good without refusal sendeth To him who truly treadeth The path to pureness leadeth. O Lord of might, thrice blessed he Whose confidence is built on thee.

Praise the monstrous body, too enormous to describe. When the tongue is taken, how may the mouth even try. Praise the bitch slapped face, the hemorrhaged eyes. The cluster. The clot. We thin our blood, we run. We run, and we always look back. Praise the trafficked body, the one that is excised. On smartphones, with hashtags, we lament the phantom part. Praise the foreign object rushing to the heart. That is you, the help, the heroine. We pump our fists for you,isang bagsak! Praise the ever-present lens, the firing squad shoots every curse and plea. Your breath is a miracle, a lifeline, a headline. The old you is dead. Praise for her soul. We offer to her our last Lacrimosa. Praise the new you, the chrysalis, the secluded saint. Praise you. May you emerge, graced and gospeled. Unjudged, unfallen, and the color of sky.