Broken in pieces all asunder, <br />Lord, hunt me not, <br />A thing forgot, <br />Once a poor creature, now a wonder, <br />A wonder tortur'd in the space <br />Betwixt this world and that of grace. <br /> <br />My thoughts are all a case of knives, <br />Wounding my heart <br />With scatter'd smart, <br />As wat'ring pots give flowers their lives. <br />Nothing their fury can control, <br />While they do wound and prick my soul. <br /> <br />All my attendants are at strife, <br />Quitting their place <br />Unto my face: <br />Nothing performs the task of life: <br />The elements are let loose to fight, <br />And while I live, try out their right. <br /> <br />Oh help, my God! let not their plot <br />Kill them and me, <br />And also thee, <br />Who art my life: dissolve the knot, <br />As the sun scatters by his light <br />All the rebellions of the night. <br /> <br />Then shall those powers, which work for grief, <br />Enter thy pay, <br />And day by day <br />Labour thy praise, and my relief; <br />With care and courage building me, <br />Till I reach heav'n, and much more, thee.<br /><br />George Herbert<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/affliction-iv/
