Prayer in Infirmity

O most mighty and most merciful God,
who, though thou have taken me off my feet,
hast not taken me off my foundation, which is thyself;
who, though thou have removed me from that upright form
in which I could stand and see thy throne, the heavens,
yet hast not removed from me that light
by which I can lie and see myself;
who, though thou have weakened my bodily knees,
that they cannot bow to thee,
hast left me the knees of my heart,
which are bowed unto thee evermore;
as thou hast made this bed thine altar,
make me thy sacrifice,
and as thou makest thy Son Jesus Christ the priest,
so make me his deacon,
to minister to him
in a cheerful surrender of my body and soul to thy pleasure,
by his hands.

-- John Donne (1572-1631), English priest, essayist, and poet, from Devotions Upon Divergent Occasions, III, (1624)