Thought for the day

George Herbert's Sighs and Grones read by Richard Wallace 

Sighs and Groans

by George Herbert

O do not use me 
After my sins! look not on my desert, 
But on thy glory! then thou wilt reform 
And not refuse me: for thou only art 
The mighty God, but I a silly worm; 
O do not bruise me! 

O do not urge me! 
For what account can thy ill steward make? 
I have abused thy stock, destroyed thy woods, 
Sucked all thy magazines: my head did ache, 
Till it found out how to consume thy goods: 
O do not scourge me! 

O do not blind me! 
I have deserved that an Egyptian night 
Should thicken all my powers; because my lust 
Hath still sewed fig-leaves to exclude thy light: 
But I am frailty, and already dust; 
O do not grind me! 
O do not fill me 
With the turned vial of thy bitter wrath! 
For thou hast other vessels full of blood, 
A part whereof my Saviour emptied hath, 
Ev'n unto death: since he died for my good, 
O do not kill me! 

But O reprieve me! 
For thou hast life and death at thy command; 
Thou art both Judge and Saviour, feast and rod , 
Cordial and Corrosive : put not thy hand 
Into the bitter box; but O my God, 
My God, relieve me!
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