A Prayer For Friday

John Donne

§ “No human is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every human is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were:
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were.
Any human's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in humankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.”

§ “Love's mysteries in souls do grow,
But yet the body is his book.”

§ “Other men’s crosses are not my crosses.”

§”Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallow'd in, a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And, having done that, thou hast done;
I fear no more.”

§ “Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.”

§ “Bring us, O Lord God, 
at our last awakening 
into the house and gate of heaven,
to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, 
where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, 
but one equal light; 
no noise nor silence, 
but one equal music; 
no fears nor hopes, 
but one equal possession; 
no ends nor beginnings, 
but one equal eternity: 
in the habitations of thy majesty and glory.
Amen.”

In gratitude for my brother-in-law, 9/11 first responder, firefighter, and friend: Israel Hernandez— a truly courageous, loving, and heroic man. “‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord,’ says the Spirit, ‘They rest from their labors and their works shall follow them.’”