Lament of the friendless

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Friends, I am calling to thee, for I have run into hard times, oh I have. Grief has engulfed my house, trapping me and my family. Hard times have arrived. The wineskin has gone empty, and my granaries are all dried up. There is no more for my plate, and there is no more for my table. Time has truly caught up with me.
Wake up now, my friends. Stir from thy deep slumber, and keep vigil with me, as I stir my pot of sorrow. Stay a while longer, while I heave in grief. Stay with me, ere sorrow overruns me, and I get lost in my blues, and I lose my way in this thick forest. Wake up friends. I desire thy company now, but alas, why is the space around me so empty and cold? Where art thou, all ye that ate at my house, when we had a feast, all ye who spent with me the days when wine was flowing? Where are you, right now that I am in sorrow? That disease and loneliness assails me? Where are you, friends, now that the world has come crashing down, and rain is coming through my roof and into my house? Oh you have left me, nothing but rich pickings for the vultures. You have left me naked and defiled, to be mocked by my enemies, by they that have long sought my downfall. Save me, my friends, lest shame comes upon me, comes upon you. Mind me, one more time, before it all comes crashing to the ground. Save me, all ye that feasted with me, for though there is no more drink, there are memories, for though there is no more to eat, we still harbour recollections for a time that was. Do not deny me, in my nakedness, for I remembered you when I was well-clothed.
Oh friends, look and see, my mind has gone frail. My time is nigh, and I am afraid, for I shall die without company, the good days just but a memory that I do not want to recall, a scar that I do not desire to remember. Bury me friends, one last time, for old time’s sake. Say thy farewells, and commit me to the ground, a friendless man, dying without company.

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