Verse 1
Thou righteous GOD, whose Plague I bear,
Whose Plague I from my Youth have borne,
Shut up in Temporal Despair,
Ordain’d to suffer, and to mourn;

Verse 2
If now I had forgot to grieve,
As every Penal Storm were or’e,
Forgive, the Senseless Wretch forgive,
And all my Chastisement restore.

Verse 3
Asham’d of having hop’d for Rest,
Or ask’d for Comfort here below,
Lo! I revoke the rash Request,
And sink again in desp’rate Woe.

Verse 4
Submissive to the Stroke again
I bow my faint devoted Head,
Till Thou discharge the latest Pain,
And write me free among the Dead.

Verse 5
Ah! what have I to do with Peace,
Or Converse sweet, or Social Love?
From Man, and all his Help, I cease,
From Earth, and all her Goods remove:

Verse 6
Waking out of my Dream of Hope
I see the fond Delusion end,
And give the whole Creation up,
And live, and die—without a Friend.