While sick I laid upon my bed,
Death came knocking upon my door.
I knew it was he when he peered
Though I'd never met him before.
He came with clanging chains in hand
That dragged and trailed behind his tail
And with a beastly foot to stand
Was dressed again in black and wailed.

He wailed my life to take away,
And burn me in hell, he did say,
For all my sins and trespasses
Wherein I reveled when I pleased.
Wherefore I thought to scream and shout
To every one within and out.
But when none at my voice would dread
I feared the thought that I was dead.

Then towards me he staggered thence
My soul to bind and steal away
The soul he bought for thirty pence
A price he professed to have paid.
Oh, how on earth was I careless
To let the thief my soul to steal
Oh, how the hell was I godless
To let his lies my heart to fill.

Oh, what a reckless way to live
Upon the wealth the devil gives,
Upon the pleasures of the world
That never pleased the righteous God.
The preacher said Jesus to serve,
To turn to him with my whole heart,
But never would I for Him starve
Nor thirst would I for a fresh start.

My life I lived to please the flesh
In sin and adultery afresh.
Not finding water from my house,
But stealing from another's spouse.
Not fetching water from my well
But fetching from the depth of hell.
How stolen water tastes sweeter
But lands in the stomach bitter!

Oh that I'd drank from my cistern,
And let pure water fulfill me
Than drink from the sweet lake that burn
And have nobody to heal me.
The preacher said Jesus to serve,
To turn to him with my whole heart,
But never would I for him starve
Nor thirst would I for a fresh start.

Now naked and clothed in rags
My soul to hell the devil drags.
And now I feel the flames of hell
For by the smell I sure can tell;
Bitterness shall now be my song
And I shall sing him all day long
My sorrow shall now know no bound
Save some by it in hell is found.

For all my sins- shall now repay;
The little lies and truth untold,
The wholesome debts and vows unpaid,
The little truths and lies foretold,
The wrongful rights and bribes acclaimed,
The malice borne and grudges kept
The hurtful words and curse exchanged
The decalogue and laws unkept.

The preacher said Jesus to serve
But never would I for him starve,
To turn to him with my whole heart,
Nor thirst would I for a fresh start.
Let not your heart like mine be hard
Lest death strike and you loose your guard
Let not your heart be hard like mine
Nor despise the truth of these lines.

Now have I known the way to hell,
Which I have trodden to this day;
And also known life's Way to tell,
For Jesus only is that Way.
And though to hell I onward bound
And know not now what else to say
My cries shall evermore resound
That Jesus only is the way!