Below is the rendering of psalm 88 that I introduced yesterday, to be performed against a rendering of Miles Davis’ All Blues. Selah is a Hebrew word that scholars still haven’t figured out; I took the liberty of inserting it a couple of times where it seemed to fit my rendering of the poem, meaning “bass solo”! Each stanza fits against one time through the changes:

God, you’re my last chance
I spend the night on my knees before you.
Listen to my prayer
Take note on the trouble I’m in
I’ve had my fill of trouble
I’m camped right on the edge of hell.

I’m written-off as a lost cause,
Just a hopeless case.
Abandoned as dead,
One more body in a stack of corpses.
Not even a gravestone –
I’m a black hole in oblivion

You’ve dropped me into a pit
Sunk me deep in the pitch-black abyss.
Battered senseless by your rage,
Pounded by your waves of anger.
You turned my friends against me,
Made me seem horrible to them.
Caught in a maze, can’t escape,
Blinded by frustration.

Selah

I call to you, God;
I wring my hands, I plead for help.
Are the dead an audience for your miracles?
Do ghosts ever join choirs that praise you?
Does your love make a difference,
Is your faithfulness noticed down in hell?

Selah

I’m standing my ground, God, shouting for help,
At my prayers every morning, each daybreak.
Why, God, do you turn a deaf ear?
Why do you make yourself scarce?
I’ve been hurting; I’m afflicted;
I’m done.

Your anger has blazed through my life;
I’m bleeding, black-and-blue.
You’ve attacked me from every side,
Raining down blows ’til I’m nearly dead.
Lover and neighbour are gone,
The only friend I have left is darkness

The only friend left is darkness…

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