By the Rivers of Babylon I sit and weep for
another home
another time
There on the tree I hang my guitar
My tormentors bid me to sing their song
Hate filled young men with bitter eyes and rifles and assault weapons
Officials who profess to be hunting with rifles
and assault weapons for those who oppose their beliefs
Men and women who storm the bastions of the republic
and seek out their opposition for torture and hangings
Men and women who are thrilled to believe anything other than the truth
What song can I sing to these prompts?
I cannot forget a softer thought
I cannot forget a simpler way
I cannot forget a universal solidarity that flames for an instance
and then is carried off by the winds of discontent
I’ll save my songs for a smaller gathering of gentler souls
Who don’t need to agree
Who coexist peacefully with differences on display
I was not captured and taken to the rivers of Babylon.
Those rivers came to me
By Jan Kraus
Inspired by Psalm 137