215 Graves

 

I wrote this a week ago, it's a little rough around the edges.

 215 Graves

215 Graves with no names
215 names lost forever
215 sparks of God's fire
drifting away on the river.

They were worlds of wonder loving God's bounty
Loving the earth and the sky and the river.
It carried them on, it swept them away,
Time’s cruel waters drowned love's fire.

215 Graves with no names...

Pride and power took them from family
Took them for shaping as if they were clay
But God's spark within them resisted the potter
Flamed bright and loving until they gave way.

215 Graves with no names...

Then they were buried, discarded, forgotten;
The warm earth received them and held them safe,
Safe from the beatings, the scoldings and pain,
Dreaming of fathers and mothers and home.

215 Graves with no names...

Now we have found them, now their bones cry to us,
Were you the ones who talked of Christ’s love?
Now we must reckon with guilt of our ancestors,
But power and pride live on in us.

215 graves with no names....

We’re all one family, children of Earth,
Earth-mother who offers us love of each other,
Love that can heal us, love that can lift us
Above pride and power, above guilt and fear.

215 graves with no names....

When we let go of the greed that defines us,
The greed that we think will free us from fear,
Then the bones of the children will rise up and embrace us
And love will reshape us into children of light.

215 graves with no names
215 names to recover
215 sparks of God’s fire
lighting the way to love.

 

© 2021 W. Kirchmeir