by Jeff Santosuosso
139
1 you have searched me,
and you know me.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
but, you know it altogether.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn,
10 even there your hand will lead me,
12 even the darkness doesn’t hide from you,
but the night shines as the day.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,
18 If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand.
When I wake up, I am still with you.
23 Search me,
and lead me in the everlasting way.
42
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks,
2 My soul thirsts
3 My tears have been my food,
4 I remember, and pour out my soul within me,
how I used to go with the crowd,
with the voice of joy and praise.
6 my soul is in despair within me.
All your waves and your billows have swept over me.
8 In the night song shall be with me:
“Why have you forgotten me?
10 As with a sword in my bones,
11 Why are you in despair, my soul?
Why are you disturbed within me? Hope I shall still praise
103
1 All that is within me, praise!
2 Praise all benefits,
3 who forgives all your sins,
who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies,
5 who is merciful and gracious,
abundant in loving kindness.
9
so great is his loving kindness
12
As a flower of the field, the wind passes over it, and it is gone.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting you angels,
who are mighty in strength, who do his pleasure.
22 , all you works
in all places
Praise, my soul!
107
2 Let the redeemed say so,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
4 They wandered in the wilderness.
They found no city to live in.
5 6 Then they cried their trouble,
led to a city to live in.
8 Let them praise kindness,
10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
being bound in affliction and iron,
12 brought down with labor.
They fell down, and there was no one to help.
13 Then they cried in their trouble,
brought them out of darkness 15 Let them praise loving kindness
17 Fools are afflicted
They draw near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cry in their trouble,
21 Let them praise loving kindness,
23 Those who go down to the sea,
who do business in great waters;
24 These see wonders in the deep.
27 They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man,
and are at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cry in their trouble,
waves are still.
30 Then they are glad because it is calm,
31 Let them praise loving kindness,
32 Let them exalt in desert,
water springs into a thirsty ground,
34 a desert into a pool of water,
and a dry land into water springs.
36 the hungry live,
that they may
37 sow fields, plant vineyards,
and reap the fruits of increase.
42 The upright will see it, and be glad.
All the wicked will shut their mouths.
43 Whoever is wise will consider loving kindnesses.
104
1 You are clothed with honor and majesty.
2 the foundations of the earth should not be moved.
6 covered with the deep. The waters stood above the mountains.
10 springs
11 give drink to every animal of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
The earth is filled with fruit.
14 the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food out of the earth:
15 wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart.
16 trees are well watered,
17 where the birds make their nests.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats. The rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
The sun knows when to set.
22 The sun rises.
23 Man goes forth to his work, to his labor until the evening.
The earth is full of riches.
25There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals.
they gather. they are satisfied with good.
33 I will sing as long as I live. I will sing praise while I have any being.
34 Let your meditation be sweet. I will rejoice.
Bless my soul.
Jeff Santosuosso is a business consultant and award-winning poet living in Pensacola, FL. His chapbook, “Body of Water,” is available through Clare Songbirds Publishing House. He is Editor-in-Chief of panoplyzine.com, an online journal of poetry and short prose. Jeff’s work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and has appeared in The Comstock Review, San Pedro River Review, South Florida Poetry Journal, The Blue Nib, Mojave River Review, The Lake (UK), Red Fez, Texas Poetry Calendar, Avocet, Pif, and other online and print publications. You can find him on Facebook.
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