Teach me to live - I hate my living death -
Slap me awake, as often as I doze.
Help me forgive: old rage I can't dispose
of stinks my thoughts so thick I can't draw breath.
Lift up my spine: the fears I faced arose
and faced me back, and yet more dark fears lurk.
Kick me to act: I've been so long inert,
so used to hide away from what God knows.
      What, yet another decade passed me by?
      How can I be forged if I can't get hot?
      When can I die to lies, and rise to life?
      Shock me to breathe before I'm stupified,
      Illumine me to ripeness ere I rot:
      Teach me, O Christ, to live before I die.