David's Peccavi - Stanza 2 of 5

Second Stanza

David in Prayer by Willem Vrelant.1460s

[7]   But feares now are my pheares grief my delight

[8]   My teares my drinke my famisht thoughtes my bredd
[9]   Day full of Dumpes nurce of unrest the nighte
[10]  My garmentes gives a bloody feild my bedd
[11]  My sleape is rather death then deathes allye
[12]  Yet kild with murdring pangues I cannot dye.

Notes

[7] pheares: fere - A companion, comrade, mate, partner; whether male or female. [OED] (a) One who accompanies or travels with another, a companion; an armed supporter, fellow soldier; a friend, helper, advocate: [MEC] 

1575   R. B. Apius & Virginia sig. Aijv   Thy sufferent Lord and frindly feare. [OED]

[7] But … now: This contrasts the present with the blissfull tyme he once enjoyed (see line 5 above)

[8] bredd: bread. The food or sustenance a person requires in order to survive.[OED] Cf. daily bread. : if the intellect or mind has for its object the truth, then it may be said to hunger for the truth and to be fed by the truth; David’s behaviour sinned against the truth and hence his mind and thoughts suffer from the want of the sustenance of truth and are described as famished.

[9] Dumpes: A fit of melancholy or depression; now only in plural: Heaviness of mind, dejection, low spirits. A mournful or plaintive melody or song [OED]

a1535   T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) i. sig. A.iiv   What heapes of heuines, hath of late fallen among vs alredy, with which some of our poore familie be fallen into such dumpes. [OED]

[9] nurce: nurse - That which nourishes or fosters some quality, condition, etc. Also: a place that nurtures or produces people of a specified type. Now literary and rare. [OED]

1526   W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. CCiiii   Obedience..is the helthe of faithfull soules, the nourse of all vertue.

[10] gives: gyves - A shackle, esp. for the leg; a fetter. 

1600   E. Fairfax tr. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne v. xlii. 83   Hands..Not to be tide in giues and twisted cords.[OED]

[10] field: field: The ground on which a battle is fought; a battlefield.

1648   G. Daniel Eclog. v. 200   Rebell mouths..did then confesse Him master of ye feild. 

[11] sleape: sleep (Middle English dative 1500s sleape) [OED]. 

[11] then: than.

[11] allye:   A relative, a relation; a kinsman or kinswoman. Now chiefly hist. There was a view that sleep and death were related or allies. But here David complains that his sleep is not a mere relative of sleep but death itself, perhaps an allusion by Southwell to the death of the soul caused when sanctifying grace is killed, so to speak, by mortal sin.

1597   W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet iii. i. 109   This Gentleman the Princes neere Alie .[OED]

[12] kild: killed.

[12] pangues: pangs: A sudden sharp spasm of pain which grips the body or a part of it; A sudden sharp feeling of mental anguish or intense emotional pain.

1547   T. Cranmer Certayne Serm. sig. O.iv   Sickenesses, and paynfull diseases, whiche be moste strong pangues and agonies in the fleshe.[OED]

Free interpretation of the second stanza

“But now, instead of friends and companions I have fearful thoughts, instead of happiness I suffer grief and sorrow. To slake my thirst, I have only my tears; famished, I hunger for spiritual sustenance. Each day is full of dejection and melancholy; each night brings no respite for my restless soul. For my clothing, I am laden with shackles; instead of the repose of the bedchamber, there is for me a bloody field of battle. My sleep is no longer merely akin to death but becomes death itself;  fatal pangs seem to be killing me and yet I cannot actually die.”

 

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam