The Prayer of Job
"Lord teach me to be silent
teach my tongue to be silent
and my lips
Teach my heart to be silent
Teach me not to answer
badly posed questions
false accusations
Teach me to be silent
even when I speak
Teach me to be silent
when I want to scream
when silence hurts
Teach me not to complain
not to talk about the fickleness of life
how difficult life is
how little sense there is in it
Teach me the sense of silence
and the silence of sense
Teach me so I'll be silent also in dying
for there are some whose death
screams beforehand up to the heavens
Teach me a prayer
which is full of longing
and asks for nothing
Teach me to be silent
especially with those
whom I love
let a word never
separate me from them
Teach me the silence
of the sick beast
the silence of clouds of rain of grass
the silence of evening and of night
the silence of kindness
and of gratitude
Lord teach me the silence of sleep
the silence of all my dead
Teach me Lord
Your
most profound silence"
