1 YHWH
you have been our shelter
our refuge
through all time
2 before the peaks were formed
or the earth imagined
you are
3 you say \"return, oh children of men\"
from the destruction of your ways
4 from dust to dust
o mortal
while millennia pass
as a day in flight
or a turn in the night
yet we are swept away in the slumber of death
like fresh grass in the morning
that springs up new
by evening dry and withered
consumed by your anger
terrified at your displeasure
our foulness lies exposed before you
hidden vice in the light of your presence
our days flee under the burden of sin
ending with a whimper
seventy?
perhaps eighty years
highlighted with trouble and sorrow
passing through our fingers and blown away
do we gras the power of your anger?
wrath and fear are the sentence
teach us to value our days
\"that we may gain a heart of wisdom\"
relent, Adonai! how long?
compassion for your children?
fill us from mourning with unfailing love
\"that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days\"
show us the joy in our sorrows
all the days of our distress
establish the work of our hands
yes
establish the work of our hands