Verse 1
Ah woe is me, a man of woe,
A Mourner from the womb,
I see my Lot and softly go
Lamenting to the tomb.

Verse 2
In calm despair I bow my head,
The heavenly Loan restore,
For O! my latest Hope is dead,
And Friendship is no more.

Verse 3
Too happy in His Love I was,
I was—but I submit!
Irreparable is the Loss,
The Ruin is compleat.

Verse 4
O could I to the Desart fly
Till pain with life should end,
And ah! my faithless Brother cry
And ah! my faithless Friend!

Verse 5
The dearest Sharer of my heart,
Ah! whither is he fled!
My Friend, whom death could never part,
To me is doubly dead.

Verse 6
In simple innocency drest
The soft Ephesian’s charms
Have caught him from my honest breast
To her bewitching Arms.

Verse 7
My other Self, but more belov’d
In youth in manhood tried,
Faithful for 30 winters prov’d—
Is ravish’d from my side.

Verse 8
O what a mighty Loss is mine!
The anguish who can tell,
The more than anguish, to resign
A Soul I lov’d so well!

Verse 9
But shall a sinful man complain
Or murmur at the Rod?
I yield, I yield him back again
Into the Arms of GOD.

Verse 10
There let me find him in that day
When all the Saints ascend,
And lo! I weep my life away,
For my Departed Friend!