A Prayer for Help in Trouble

How long, O Lord, how long?

A Psalm of David

from the Bible: Psalm 13

(King James Version)

How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever?

How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

How long shall I take counsel in my soul,

having sorrow in my heart daily?

How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and hear me, O Lord my God:

lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

lest mine enemy say, "I have prevailed against him";

and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

But I have trusted in thy mercy;

my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

I will sing unto the Lord,

because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

So said Rachel Mallalieu about her poem "I Tell My Son to Cover Himself in Someone Else's Blood," a poem she wrote in response to the news of the May 24, 2022, mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. To read that poem, click here.