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For the Long Stalled Train

Person with backpack waits on train platform at sunrise, as a train approaches in the distance.

Inspired by Psalm 140

 
Oh, Refuge of Hearts Shrunken to the Gravest Indifferences!
 
And Good People the Width of Mountains Reduced to Earth in Early Graves!
 
You are a saving G-d.
 
You would insist we take up your mantle now
and save us.
 
But especially
those made most vulnerable 
by us!
 
Save them first and last.
 
Yes
Rescue us from the Evil Man
and this Evil Time.
 
But if You can 
(We can)
too.
 
Rescue us from the lips that slip
The battles of dimmed wits
And the self-righteousness 
that speaks too late 
Too often 
and only of ourselves.
 
And spur us
from deep pits and 
hollow bodies teeming with the resigned darkness of immovable coal
that we
return to You.
 
Taking up 
the tears of the poor 
and raising up 
the empty palms of the needy.
 
That we learn for Your Sake
What it means to make right.
 
And finally, in your name
 
Dwell
Live and
Pray.
 
To overthrow 
the false god of hate
For he is just a man.
 
And we can no longer wait.
 
For the sake of all the living
Amen.
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