1 Once I said, “I must keep quiet;
else I sin in harsh dispute.
Just to see the wicked near me
angers me, but I stay mute.”
2 Yet I could not hold my fury,
burned to vent my sharp critique;
3 then, at last, I had to speak:
4 “LORD, are you revealing limits,
how my days look in your sight?
5 Just a breath and fleeting shadow
slipping by in useless flight?
6 Yes, I know our lives are fragile,
that we seem to work in vain
all we have is others’ gain.
7 “Why, O Lord, must I be waiting
when my hope is still in you?
8 Keep me, LORD, from sin and trouble,
from the wrong I would pursue.
Save me from the fool’s loud laughter
9 I was silent, I forgot:
you control my troubled lot.
10 “But, my LORD, your heavy burden
wears me out and weighs me down.
11 All your discipline for sinning
hurts and bows me to the ground.
Must you eat away my treasures
like a moth? I’m but a breath.
Are you facing me with death?
12 “Can you see, LORD, I am crying?
Do not spurn my sore unrest.
I pass by like those before me,
yet I claim to be your guest!
13 No more sadness! Give me gladness,
be my hope before I cease.
LORD, dear LORD, I beg for peace.”
– Calvin Seerveld
Oremus 