I have desired, and I have been desired;
But now the days are over of desire,
Now dust and dying embers mock my fire;
Where is the hire for which my life was hired?
Oh vanity of vanities, desire!
Longing and love, pangs of a perished pleasure,
Longing and love, a disenkindled fire,
She is wondering what her purpose in life is. By describing her life as ‘hired’, it indicates that it is only temporarily hers, and must be returned. Her life belongs to God, she has no real ownership of it.
Soeur Louise De La Misericorde