ON HUMAN FRAILNESS

Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak;
remember, Lord, how short my time is;
remember that I am but flesh,
a wind that passeth away, and cometh
not again.
My days are as grass, as a flower of the
field;
for the wind goeth over me, and I am
gone,
and my place shall knave me no more.
147I am dust and ashes,
earth and grass,
flesh and breath,
corruption and the worm,
a stranger upon the earth,
dwelling in a house of clay,
few and evil my days,
to‑day, and not to‑morrow,
in the morning, yet not until night,
in a body of sin,
in a world of corruption,
of few days, and full of trouble,
coming up, and cut down like a flower,
and as a shadow, having no stay.
Remember this, O Lord, and suffer,
remit;
what profit is there in my blood,
when I go down to the pit?
By the multitude of Thy mercies,
by the riches and excessive redundance
of Thy pity;
by all that is dear to Thee,
all that we should plead,
and before and beyond all things, by
Thyself,
by Thyself; O Lord, and by Thy Christ.
148Lord, have mercy upon me, the chief of
sinners.
O my Lord, let Thy mercy rejoice
against Thy judgment in my sin.
O Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive,
O Lord, hearken,
O Lord, hearken and do,
do and defer not for Thine own sake,
defer not; O Lord my God.