Who placed me in this bed of worms?
Who rolled me into the dust, to be a neighbor to serpents and a meal for hawks?
Who hurled me down from the high mountain, to be a fellow-traveler of murderers and the godless?
My sin and Thy justice, O Lord. From the foundation of the world my sin stretches forth, and it is swifter than Thy justice.
I count my sins through the whole of my life, and through the life of my father, even back to the beginning of the world, and I say: truly, the name of the Lord's justice is mercy.
I bear upon myself the wounds of my fathers, wounds that I myself prepared while I was in them, and now they have all appeared on my soul, like the mottled hide upon a giraffe, like a mantle of evil scorpions that sting me.
Have mercy, O Lord: open the floodgates of the heavenly river of Thy grace, and cleanse me of leprosy. That, free of leprosy, I might dare to utter Thy name before the other lepers, and they not mock me.
Raise me but one head's height above the putrid stench of this bed of worms. That I may breathe in heavenly incense and come to life.
Raise me but one palm tree high, that I too may laugh at the serpents that chase at my heels.
O Lord, if there be even one good deed on my earthly path, for the sake of that one deliver me from traveling in company with murderers and the godless.
O Lord, my Hope in despair.
O Lord, my Strength in weakness.
O Lord, my Light in darkness.
Lay but one finger upon my brow and I shall arise. Or, if I am too filthy for Thy fingers, bind me with one ray from Thy kingdom and lift me — lift me, O my Mercy, out of this bed of worms.