1. My body ached as if it were a branch, once green,
Now withered by a wound beyond all healing.

2. Long ago I lived in days of ease and cheer,
Master, not slave, and spoke with voice of meaning.

3. I thought that I would never know the day
When I would need the help of the lowliest.

4. But such is the will of God, that those grown great
Should bend when young plants bend beneath the breeze's weight.