Part I.

I N the subtraction of my years,
I said with tears:
Ah! now I to the shades below
Must naked go:
Cut off by death before my time,
And like a flow'r cropp'd in my prime.

Lord, in Thy temple I no more
Shall Thee adore;
No longer with mankind converse
In my cold hearse.
My age is past ere it be spent,
Removed like a shepherd's tent.

My frail life, like a weaver's thread,
My sins have shred:
My vital pow'rs diseases waste
With greedy haste:
Ev'n from the evening to the day
I languish, and consume away.

And when the morning watch is past,
Think that my last.
Thou like a lion break'st my bones,
Nor hear'st my groans:
Ev'n from the dawning to the night,
Death waits to close my failing sight.

Thus swallow-like, like to a crane,
My woes complain:
Mourn like a turtle-dove but late
Robb'd of his mate.
I my dim eyes to Thee erect:
The weak O strengthen and protect!

Part II.

What praise can reach Thy clemency,
O Thou Most High?
Thy words are ever crown'd with deeds:
Joy grief succeeds.
My bitter pangs at length are past,
And long my peaceful days shall last.

My lively vigour dost restore,
Increas'd with more:
My years prolong'd, now flourishing
In their new spring:
Thou hast with joy dried up my tears,
And with my grief exil'd my fears.

Thy love hath drawn me from the pit
Where horrors sit:
My soul-infecting sins Thou hast
Behind Thee cast.
The grave cannot Thy praise relate,
Nor death Thy goodness celebrate.

Can They expect Thy mercy whom
Cold earth entomb?
The living must Thy truth display,
As I this day.
This fathers to their sons shall tell,
While souls in human bodies dwell.

The Lord as ready was to save,
As I to crave:
I therefore to the warbling string
His praise will sing:
And in His house, till my last day,
My grateful vows devoutly pay.