Deva Anthology

LaVerne Carrick

Priscilla Cross

Jennifer Dyan Hartley

Rae Marie Taylor

Dr. Meredith L.
Young-Sowers

LOVE SONG FOR WHAT WE ARE LOSING

by Rae Marie Taylor

Sing

the shattered hoping, the shattered having

the shattered honing of lives

Sing

for the cratered desert

Chant

with the thunder of Tides

Grieve

for the oil on ocean

Hum with the lapping, receding tides

Sing

for the breath in our bodies

Hum for the breathless bodies

Stroke a child's hands

playfully

Tussle her hair

Gladden to the laughter of friends

Chant for the laboring of love

muscles that move

bricks that stay put

bricks that stay put

Weep for husbands with scattered limbs

Wail

for masses in disheveled homes

Soothe the wives with blinded eyes

Soothe the wives with blinded eyes

They have been bombed

Weep

Don't reel

Swing, sway

Rock

softly

Sing for Sorrow

Hum

thoughtfully

for the Humiliation

Hum

Sing for the vanishing tenderness of our lives

Chant

Love

Dance

for its return

Grieve our lost easy, unknowing days

Hum for now we know

Hum to our grief in knowing

Chant our horror at knowing

Hum for now we know

Is there no more America?

No hay mas America

Est-ce qu’il n’y a plus d’Amérique?

Chant for our disbelieving

even though we know

Pray against our disbelieving

even though we know

Chant for our loneliness in knowing

again

Speak for the vanishing tenderness of our lives

Praise

Dance

Sing

for its return

Sigh to the daily touch of a lover's skin

Love

Don't languish

Stand

Bow to the thunder of Tides

Hope for the eruption of spring

Fall with veils of sky and sweeping rain

Dance

ferocious

Rejoice for a time you did not fear

Sing for a time you will not fear

Halt the waging of war

Check the torturing of souls

Praise the tender men

Exult in boisterous women

Chant laudemus for hopeful children

Chant

Love for strong minds

Hope for outrage

Stand

Stilled

Knead red clay and summer sands

Stir to the purple throated sage

Whisper with wildly woven moss

Hear the sky spreading itself thick with stars

rapt

Dance with the falcons and merciful rain

Hum with Venus setting at dusk

Chant for a time we will not fear

Sing

together

in the light fabric of day

Step, gently

Heed the lapping, receding tides

Don't sway

Glide

Step, Turn, Soothe

Stand with orchids in the wind