Last night, Lord,
it was warm enough
to sleep with my windows open:
something I've looked forward to
for some time now...
The peaceful quiet was enhanced,
not interrupted,
by a natural choir of crickets,
chanting a song I didn't know
but one I found oddly familiar,
comforting,
soothing...
The only other sound:
an occasional interlude,
a call and response,
sung by two lonely owls
who were, I mused,
flirting with each other...
And then, I fell asleep...
I was too far away
to hear air raid sirens
piercing the night skies
over the rooftops
of Kyiv...
I was deaf to
buzz-saw whirring drones
cutting deadly paths through
midnight's dark
and thickening clouds...
My sound sleep
was not disturbed
by shrieking missiles,
finding, with deadly aim,
their intended living targets:
women, men and children
huddled, wide awake,
trembling and shaking
in their homes
and in each other's arms...
I was too far away,
too deep in sleep,
to hear
their cries, their screams...
Lord, I beg you:
do not let me sleep
through the nightmares and the horrors
hunting down the fragile life
my brothers and my sisters
plead and pray and long for...
Do not let me sleep, Lord,
through their waiting,
through their wailing,
through their weeping...
Wake me, Lord!
Wake us all!
Wake us now!
Wake us to a new day
and the work that we must do:
to save the world we live in,
to save us from ourselves
and to save our souls, one and all,
for the peace that you have promised
in the mercy you have shown...
Amen.
😭 Man’s inhumanity to man will be the death of all of us. I used to be proud to be an American, now I feel the need to apologize for it.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully said! Sad but true!
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