Pierced Words

O Lord, give me pierced words, like the bondservant's ear, serving one master, words searched and given over.

O Lord, let them be also unveiled, for though I search and pierce and enslave them, their power is not mine.

O Lord, let them be my sweat and my glory, crowned, jewels, ten more from the ten given.

O Lord, these words, you will not let them fall, you will not let them fall.

O Lord, who chose words, give me faith, or an awareness of the trembling energy that is in all that you have spoken.

O Lord, speak the new birth, still the birthpains in a new joy, for in words which shadow things, you set forth your power.