Finitude

I thank thee Lord I cannot keep
Within my breast a breath so deep
That lips or tongue or willful chin
Can keep thy Spirit out, or in.

I thank thee Lord for constant thirst
Each day a litany rehearsed
By flowing water called, fulfilled
In company must live and build.

I thank thee Lord for weekly need
On flesh and fruit and bread to feed
And by these accidents sustain
My place within Earth’s broad domain.

I thank thee last for blessed death
When race is run and out of breath
My heart shall stop
__________and love shall be
At rest in thine eternity.

Thought and mind and soul may stray
From kith and kin and thee away
But mortal matter day by day
Returns me to thy hands, as clay.

Lucas Mix, 5 June 2021

[Image: Hasegawa Tohaku Pine Trees c.1595]