Psalm 137 (An Inspiration)

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By the Waters of Babylon, painting by Arthur Hacker, c. 1888


Loss and hope,

we sit here and weep,

remembering what we had.

The good days have faded,

those we took for granted.

The world says be joyful for what we have accomplished,

I am sad for what we've lost.


I hang my harp in the willow.

I will not sing for your cause,

nor will I dance.

How can I say,

this life,

the one the world adores,

Is better than any other.


Loss and hope,

the waters of Babylon flow by.

This world seems foreign.

The songs sung here

are in languages I cannot understand.

For on one day they burnt the holy city.

On the next they crucified love.



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