Save me, O God;
I am sinking in deep mire,
and there is no firm ground for my feet.

I am not getting out the same way
as I landed in this predicament,
ensnared by gravity and half-digested decay,
trapped in the peat bog where I might stay
undisturbed, preserved for eons; instead
I surrender myself to the yielding earth,
prostrate upon her mercy –
creature of my Creator, mother of my matter –
labouring to deliver me from the mire.

Save me from the mire; do not let me sink;
do not let the Pit shut its mouth upon me.

Psalm 69: 1a,2; 16a,17b