The Werri Beach Prayer
/Gerringong, NSW, September 14th, 2019
“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Ps. 13:1)
Old Man in Prayer from Rembrandt
To what purpose this pain which rents the spirit
In those secret places which makes the bones throb
For what intent my Lord this dreadful brokenness
This deepest despair like the nightingale’s last song
Like the final gasp of air from the second crucified thief
What caused You to turn Your face from your beseeching servant
From Your high place you see him fall onto his knees in the midday Sun
To cry unto the heavens ‘be merciful to me, Oh! Lord be merciful to me’
Even my tears you have taken away, I have none left, my eyes burn
They are scored by the sand which by Your command rises up to scrape my face
My soul laments this terrible desolation visited upon it for it has known
The divine sweetness of Your presence and the ineffable peace of Your holy places
‘My God, My God’
How will I survive this night when Your absence will break my heart
And deeper still in those unspoken places where the only infallible words
Ever spoken by the mortal mouth keep forever in the blood and marrow:
‘be merciful to me, Oh! Lord be merciful to me’.