Lamentation
O where have they all gone
Those days and nights of strength
when I wore holiness
like robes? Much time wasted
since, wisdom forgotten,
even love nearly dead.
Now I walk with the dead,
My faith and hope long gone.
Since I have forgotten
God, I have lost the strength
and squandered holiness.
Tatters of holiness
cling still, like tombs of dead
kings, temples from days gone
by, or ruins in wasted
lands: tributes to a strength
debased and forgotten.
Each new vow forgotten,
Regaining holiness
remains beyond my strength
of will. My heart seems dead.
Something vital has gone.
Grace too has been wasted.
How could I have wasted
such gifts, and forgotten
their Giver? Have I gone
too far from holiness
to be raised from the dead
and live once more in strength?
God Himself was my strength,
Many paths reach the dead,
endless and forgotten.
The road to Holiness
is one, and almost gone.
Love, though wasted, is not gone!
Return, O strength forgotten!
Rise, holiness, from the dead!