Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PENITENTIAL PSALM: 143. DOMINE EXAUDI, by THOMAS WYATT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PENITENTIAL PSALM: 143. DOMINE EXAUDI, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hear my prayer, o lord, hear my request
Last Line: For thine am I, thy servant aye most bound.
Alternate Author Name(s): Wyat, Thomas
Subject(s): God


Hear my prayer, O Lord, hear my request;
'Complish my boon; answer to my desire,
Not by desert but for Thine own behest,
In whose firm truth Thou promised mine empire
To stand stable. And, after Thy justice,
Perform, O Lord, the thing that I require.
But not of law after the form and guise,
To enter judgment with Thy thrall bond slave,
To plead his right; for in such manner wise
Before Thy sight no man his right shall save.
For of myself, lo, this my right wiseness,
By scourge and whip and pricking spurs I have
Scant risen up: such is my beastliness.
For that my enemy hath pursued my life.
And in the dust hath foiled my lustiness;
For that in heins to flee his rage so rife,
He hath me forced as dead to hide my head;
And for because within myself at strife
My heart and sprite with all my force were fled.
I had recourse to times that have been past,
And did remember Thy deeds in all my dread;
And did peruse Thy works that ever last,
Whereby I knew above those wonders all
Thy mercies were. Then lift I up in haste
My hands to Thee. My soul to Thee did call,
Like barren soil for moisture of Thy grace.
Haste to my help, O Lord, afore I fall:
For sure I feel my sprite doth faint apace.
Turn not Thy face from me that I be laid
In 'compt of them that headlong down do pass
Into the pit. Show me by times Thine aid:
For on Thy grace I wholly do depend;
And in Thy hand since all my health is stayed,
Do me to know what way Thou wilt I bend,
For unto Thee I have raised up my mind.
Rid me, O Lord, from that that do intend
My foes to me: for I have me assigned
Alway within Thy secret protection.
Teach me Thy will, that I by Thee may find
The way to work the same in affection:
For Thou my God, Thy blessed sprite upright,
In land of truth shall be my direction.
Thou for Thy name, Lord, shalt revive my sprite
Within the right that I receive by Thee,
Whereby my life of danger shall be quit.
Thou hast fordone their great iniquity
That vexed my soul: Thou shalt also confound
My foes, O Lord, for Thy benignity,
For Thine am I, Thy servant aye most bound.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net