Editor's Note: On August 14, 1982, Ann Weems' son Todd died less than an hour after his 21st birthday. In the years following that loss, she gave voice to her continuing grief, rage, and faith in a series of harrowing and beautiful psalms of lament.

My friends leave baskets of balm
at my feet,
but I cannot bend to touch
the healing
to my heart.
They call me to leave
this valley,
but I cannot follow
the faint sound
of their voices.
They sing their songs
of love,
but the words fade
and vanish in the wind.
They knock,
but I cannot find the door.
They shout to me,
but I cannot find the voice
to answer.

O God, find me!
Come into this valley
and find me!
Bring me out of this land
of weeping.

O you to whom I belong,
find me!
I will wait here,
for you have never failed
to come to me.
I will wait here,
for you have always been faithful.
I will wait here,
for you are my God,
and you have promised
that you counted the hairs on my head.

This is Lament Psalm 5 from "Psalms of Lament," Copyright 1995 Ann Weems. Used by permission of John Knox Press.