Adam and Eve, Ethiopia by Bernard Gagnon (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
I am surrounded by the storm of sin,
O compassionate Lord.
But stretch out your hand to me,
as once you did to Peter.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I offer to you, O merciful Lord,
the tears of the harlot.
Take pity on me, O Savior,
in your compassion.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
With the lusts of passion I have darkened
the beauty of my soul,
and turned my whole mind
entirely into dust.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I have torn the first garment
that the Creator wove for me in the beginning,
and now I lie naked.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I have clothed myself in the torn coat
that the serpent wove for me by his counsel,
and I am ashamed.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I looked upon the beauty of the tree
and my mind was deceived;
and now I lie naked and ashamed.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
All the ruling passions have plowed upon my back,
making long furrows of wickedness.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I have lost the beauty and glory
with which I was first created;
and now I lie naked and ashamed.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Sin has stripped me of the robe
that God once wove for me,
and it has sewed for me garments of skin.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
I am clothed with the garments of shame
as with fig leaves,
in condemnation of my self-willed passion
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Frederica Mathewes–Green, American Orthodox author
____________________
Hear my prayer, Lord,
listen to my cry for help;
do not be deaf to my weeping.
I dwell with you as a foreigner,
a stranger, as all my ancestors were.
Look away from me, that I may enjoy life again
before I depart and am no more.
I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
prayer & verse 
