How long...
(how long)
How long, O Lord...

Don't rebuke me in Your anger, Lord, don't chasten me in heat --
I'm weak as the last of the candle, got no ground beneath my feet.
My bones are vexed and rattling like a gate the wind blows wide,
and my soul is sore and sinking, Lord, with no place left to hide.

I've been counting the cracks in the ceiling since the last of the daylight died,
and the question keeps on turning -- how long, how long? -- while I lie here on my side.
There's a river running through my bed, I have watered my couch with my tears,
and my eye is consumed with the grieving, growing old while no morning draws near.

So I lift it from the bottom, from the cold floor where I've knelt --
one cry the whole night carries, the only prayer I've got left:

How long, O Lord, how long? Have mercy, hear me pray.
I am weak -- so heal me -- O hide not Your face away.
Return, come down and find me, O save me for love's own sake;
in the watches of the weeping, hold a heart about to break.

For the dead can't sing Your praises, and the grave keeps no account,
so I'm crying from the living side of the ground where Your mercies count.
And the ones who'd see me under, Lord, they are circling, closing near --
but I've cried my last down to the bone, I've got no strength but this prayer.

How long, O Lord, how long? Have mercy, hear me pray.
I am weak -- so heal me -- O hide not Your face away.
Return, come down and find me, O save me for love's own sake;
in the watches of the weeping, hold a heart about to break.

Get away from me now, all you workers of the wrong (get out) --
for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping all night long.
He has heard my supplication (it was never, no never in vain) --
and He will receive my prayer like the dry ground drinks the rain.

So lift up your head, O weary (lift it up now) -- the long night's turning gold,
He was near through all of the darkness -- He was closer than the cold.

Not long, O Lord, not long -- You heard me when I prayed.
I was weak -- but You have healed me -- You never turned away.
You have returned and found me, You have saved me for love's own sake;
in the watches of the weeping, You held a heart about to break.

(He heard me, He heard me) -- mercy's breaking like the day.
(He heard me, He heard me) -- and the weeping's turned to praise.
Not long, O Lord -- not long now... the morning's on its way.