In Place Of Me

A marionette
A puppeteer
By hand divine
I must appear
To stumble for
A crowd besmear
And languish in
My aging year

What joke did play
This puppeteer
To seize the strings
To watch them leer
My wooden heart
Hush beating near
In time opposed
I see my fear

What good is good
When gray has passed
And He has taken
Every last
Should sing an all
In parting song
And youth recall
Incessant wrong

But leaving time
Senescent end
A puppet all
By string descend
And taking up
In hand does He
Another life
And jest to be
A marionette
In place of me