That endless life, not death, may be my wage.
The same note is struck in the following, which breathes the spirit of a Penitential Psalm:[[435]]—
CARICO D' ANNI
Burdened with years and full of sinfulness,
With evil custom grown inveterate,
Both deaths I dread that close before me wait,
Yet feed my heart on poisonous thoughts no less.
No strength I find in mine own feebleness
To change or life or love or use or fate,
Unless Thy heavenly guidance come, though late,