A prayer/poem by St Alphonsus Liguori

Behold at thy feet, O Mary my hope,
a poor sinner who has so many times
been by his own fault the slave of hell
I know that by neglecting to have recourse to thee,
my refuge, I allowed myself to be overcome by the devil.
Had I always had recourse to thee,
had I always invoked thee,
I certainly should not have fallen.
I trust, O Lady most worthy of all our love,
that through thee
I have already escaped from the hands of the devil,
and that God has pardoned me.
But I tremble lest at some future period
I may again fall into the same bonds.
I know that my enemies
have not lost the hope of again overcoming me,
and already they prepare new assaults and temptations for me.
Ah, my Queen and refuge, do thou assist me.
Place me under thy mantle;
permit me not again to become their slave.
I know that thou wilt help me and give me the victory,
provided I invoke thee;
but I dread lest in my temptations
I may forget thee, and neglect to do so.
The favor, then, that I seek of thee,
and which thou must grant me,
O most holy Virgin,
is that I may never forget thee,
and especially in time of temptation;
grant that I may then repeatedly invoke thee,
saying, “0 Mary, help me;
O Mary, help me. “
And when my last struggle with hell comes,
at the moment of death,
ah, then, my Queen,
help me more than ever,
and thou thyself
remind me to call on thee more frequently
either with my lips or in my heart;
that, being thus filled with confidence,
I may expire with thy sweet name
and that of thy Son Jesus on my lips;
that so I may be able to bless thee and praise thee,
and not depart from thy feet in paradise for all eternity.
Amen