Lords of Earth

We watched for hope throughout the night,

as sentinels for dawn,

and saw the sky fill up with light

exploding from their guns.



“All glory to the lords of earth,

who reign from west to east,

and to the new things now in birth—

for we shall be your peace!”



We shepherds all began to run,

to cry out what we'd seen,

to weep for all that had begun,

and all that long had been.



Though gods arise and kings are born,

for us it is the same:

the infants from their mothers torn,

the rubble and the flame.



Not 'til a king is born like us,

smelling the sulphur creep,

seeing the shattered world in dust,

waking from shattered sleep,



not 'til he comes in shit and smoke,

poverty and disease,

not until then will we have hope.

Then we will have our peace.

By Internet Archive Book Images – https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14741295196/Source book page: https://archive.org/stream/pictorialbibleco00cobb/pictorialbibleco00cobb#page/n634/mode/1up, No restrictions, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42049461

Psalm 46

Riffing on Psalm 46:

Come, O Lord: The earth is shaken,
mountains falling to their knees.
All we thought we knew is breaking
with the raging of the seas.
Be our refuge and our shelter;
be our help in troubled days.
Let the earth be still your dwelling,
through the bloody wars we wage.

See, O Lord, how we hold nothing:
Only you can fill that void.
In our need, we fight for somethings
until everything's destroyed.
Look on us, the weak and thirsty;
see us wounded, hungry ones
aching for the taste of mercy,
yearning 'til your kingdom comes.

Speak, O Lord: Your word is power.
Break the bow and bend the spear.
Turn the bloodied swords to plowshares
with the whisper of “Be still!”
Turn our battlefields to gardens;
turn our famines into feasts.
Come at last to reap your harvest
with the implements of peace.

Rapier By Rama – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4359923

Images

He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?”
They replied, “Caesar’s.”
At that he said to them,
“Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.”
Matthew 22:15-21

In the beginning of it all,
you drew us on the ground.
You plunged your hands into the soil
and sculpted what you found.

You made your image from the dust—
no gold or precious stones,
but mud and water, flame and rust:
These bear your face alone.

Why, then, are we so prodigal
to squander what you make?
The question of all questions still,
since Abel fled from Cain.

But on a day that no one knows,
one Image will return
to sit upon a burning throne
and raise the ones we mourn.

One question only will he ask
as we for mercy plead,
as every stone cries out at last:
“Whose images are these?”

Tiberius. AD 14-37. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.84 g, 7h). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Group 1, AD 15-18. Obverse:TI[berivs] CAESAR DIVI AVG[vsti] F[ilivs] AVGVSTS (Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus), laureate head right Reverse: PONTIF[ex] MAXIM[us], Livia (as Pax) seated right on chair, holding scepter in right hand, olive branch in left; plain chair legs. Catalogs: RIC I 26; Lyon 144; RSC 16; BMCRE 34; cf. BN 14 (aureus). This particular coin has been graded as “EF, toned, Artistic style”. When Jesus was asked whether or not it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, he requested that he be shown a coin. After questioning his questioners, he replied “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s“. It has been argued that a coin similar to this one was the coin handed to Jesus. By Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24821148

Canticle

Based on the Canticle of Zechariah:

How long, O Lord, must I pray
and weep to deafened skies?
How long until the light breaks,
and when will your sun rise?
Our guns unleash their thunder;
our rockets blazing bright,
we split the skies asunder,
but this is not your light.

How long until you hear us,
until you look down low?
O Mercy, now draw near us
who in the shadows groan!
We wail along with sirens
as rubble fills the streets,
and afterwards, the silence
is not the sound of peace.

We long have dwelt in shadows:
of death, of doubt, of fear.
O God, in your compassion,
draw near to us!  Draw near!
Unlock the door that bars us;
free us and guide our feet
on paths you lay before us
into the way of peace.

Estatua en mármol de San Zacarías, ubicada en la iglesia de San Juan en Arévalo, Ávila. Está datada a mediados del siglo XII. By Ángel M. Felicísimo from Mérida, España – San Zacarías en Arévalo, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=107065485

Sons and Mothers

O God of Isaac, God of Ishmael,
and God of children given up to death,
O God of Joseph, God of Israel,
give back what we have lost. Restore our dead.

But God of Sarah, God of Hagar lorn,
you know the empty arms and shattered hopes,
and God of Rachel, God of Leah scorned,
gather the children laid beneath these stones.

For you gave Isaac back to Abraham:
Restore our sons to us as desert streams!
Take all we have—a thousand slaughtered lambs!—
but leave our sons.  Take all, but leave us these!

And we will bless you in our poverty
and trust your grace that lets us hold them near.
Let cities turn to dust beneath our feet,
let mountains crumble, still we will not fear.

We tremble now, who know what Cain has done,
who hear the wailing of those bloodstained stones.
O Abel's God, you spared not Mary's son:
Breathe in our sons who lie there with your own.

Let Miriam sing the resurrection song
when you have led them all out of the sea,
our sons and theirs together in one throng,
back to their mothers.  Let our weeping cease.

German or Netherlandish 15th Century, Pietà, c. 1450–1500, National Gallery of Art By German or Netherlandish 15th Century – This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the National Gallery of Art. Please see the Gallery’s Open Access Policy., CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74853452