My life at death's unchearful door

Unto the

grave draws nigh.

4 Reck'n'd I am with them that pass

Down to the dismal pit,

I am a * man, but weak alas,

And for that name unfit.

*Heb. A man without manly ftrength.

5 From life discharg'd and parted quite
Among the dead to fleep,

And like the flain in bloody fight
That in the Grave lie deep.

Whom thou remembereft no more,
Doft never more regard,

Them from thy hand deliver'd o'er

Death's hideous house hath barr'd.

6 Thou in the lowest Pit profound Haft fet me all forlorn,

Where thickest darkness hovers round,

In horrid deeps to mourn.

7 Thy wrath, from which no shelter faves,

Full fore doth press on me;

*Thou break'st upon me all thy waves, *The Hebr.

*And all thy waves break me.

A a á

bears both.

8 Thot

8 Thou doft my friends from me estrange,

And mak'ft me odious,

Me to them odious, for they change,
And I here pent up thus.

9 Through forrow, and affliction great,

Lord, all the day I thee intreat,

My hands to thee I spread.

10 Wilt thou do wonders on the dead,

Shall the deceas'd arife

And praise thee from their loathfom bed
With pale and hollow eyes?

11 Shall they thy loving kindness tell

On whom the Grave bath hold,

1

Or they who in perdition dwell,

Thy faithfulness unfold?

12 In darkness can thy mighty hand
Or wondrous acts be known,

Thy justice in the gloomy land
Of dark oblivion?

13

But I to thee, O Lord, do cry,

E'er

yet my life be spent,

And

And up to thee my prayer doth hie,
Each morn, and thee prevent.

14 Why wilt thou, Lord, my Soul forfake,
And hide thy face from me,

15 That am already bruis'd, and † shake With terror fent from thee? +Heb.Pra Concuffione Bruis'd, and afflicted, and fo low

As ready to expire,

While I thy terrors undergo

Aftonish'd with thine ire.

16 Thy fierce wrath over me doth flow, Thy threatnings cut me through:

17 All day they round about me go, Like waves they me perfue.

18 Lover and friend thou haft remov'd, And fever'd from me. far:

They fly me now whom I have lov'd,

And as in darkness are.

JOANNIS MILTONI

LONDINENSIS

POEMATA:

Quorum pleraque intra Annum Ætatis Vigefimum Confcripfit.

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