The Lord is my shepherd.
With him, I lack nothing.
He guides me in the last way left—
Farthest round and the first home.
He walks me to the river
And settles stillness over me
Like a tree at the water’s edge.
He seeks me when I wander
Into danger and don’t come home.
He leads me along the good paths
For his name’s sake.
Even when I wander at the violet hour;
When wolf fears steal in to take
A share and howl in the hills;
When the count of days only climbs
And nothing goes right;
When I meet the shadow falling
Between the way I wanted
And the way I went—
I will fear no evil.
You are with me.
Your rod and staff are my comfort,
My shepherd and chevalier.
I wanted to be swept off,
Taken somewhere safe,
But you met me here
And set a table down in the middle
Of the people I learned
To love to hate.
You striped my brow with oil.
The cup of my lifted hands
Is fuller than I could hope to hold.
None of it is what I wanted,
But you shepherd me still.
Surely, goodness and mercy,
With rest and trust and consolation,
Will hallow round me,
Will find and bind me,
All the days of my life.
And I will live where you live forever.
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