Listen to my prayer, O Lord,
and hear my cry for help!
When I am in trouble,
don’t turn away from me!
Listen to me,
and answer me quickly when I call!
My life is disappearing like smoke:
my body is burning like fire.
I am beaten down like dry grass;
I have lost my desire for food.
I groan aloud;
I am nothing but skin and bones.
I am like a wild bird in the desert,
like an owl in abandoned ruins.
I lie awake;
I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.
All day long my enemies insult me;
those who mock me use my name in cursing…
My life is like the evening shadows;
I am like dry grass.
The lord has made me weak while I am still young;
he has shortened my life.
O God, do not take me away now before I grow old.

- The Bible, Ps. 102: 1-8, 11, 23-24 TEV