A Priest's Lament

O Lord, mine heart is heavy within me, and my tongue cleaveth to the roof of my mouth.
For lo, I am old, and mine eyes have seen many seasons; yea, I have stood in the pulpit as a watchman upon the wall.
I have broken the bread of the Word before thy people; I have wept o’er the text, and wrestled with the fire of thy truth.

But now cometh a voice, not from the whirlwind, neither from the still small voice,
But from the machine fashioned by the sons of men, and lo, it speaketh with wisdom not its own.
At the press of a finger, it poureth forth parables; with a breath, it bringeth forth a hundred sermons.

The young delight in it, and the scribes are confounded. They say, “Behold, it is swift and without error; let us use it, for it fainteth not.”
But I am as a vessel set upon a shelf, a harp whose strings are loosened, whose song is remembered no more.

Woe is me! for the labor of many years is counted as nought. The tears I sowed in the quiet of study, the groanings that cannot be uttered—who shall regard them?
Doth the machine know the sorrow of a widow’s sigh? Hath it tasted the bitterness of a grave?

I cried unto Thee, O Lord, and said, “Wilt Thou remove Thy candle from Thy servant? Shall the lamp of Thy Word burn in circuits and wires?”
And Thou answeredst me not, but didst bid me be still.

Yet I remember Thy faithfulness from the days of my youth. I recall the trembling of hearts under Thy Word; the joy of the penitent; the lifting of the broken.
These things no engine knoweth, neither doth it ponder the weight of a soul.

O God, judge between the living voice and the echo of knowledge. Remember Thy servant, whose knees are worn from prayer, whose hands have held the holy book till the pages fell as leaves.
Let not mine end be silence, nor my portion be forgotten in the scroll of time.

For though the scribe’s tool changeth, Thou changest not. Thy Spirit bloweth where it listeth, and none can bind Thee.
If Thou speak through fire, or through stone, or through the breath of a machine—blessed be Thy name.

I will lay mine head upon Thy Word, and sleep. If another rise to speak Thy truth, and it stirreth the heart unto repentance—
Then shall I rejoice, though my voice be stilled.