Saturday, September 10, 2016

Year C, Proper 19, September 11, 2-16, Would that there were no heroes

Would that there were no heroes
No soldier’s cross,
Or martyr’s loss,
Or liberating feat.
Would that there were no heroes
Answering the call
With valor, courage, grit.
Would that there were no heroes
No vengeance sought
Or justice served
Or battle cry called out.
Would that there were no heroes
                Men, women
Freedom’s best
Giving us their all.

A clear blue sky.
A day unfolds,
Like none we’ve ever seen.
One plane
Two planes
Three planes
Four
They flew, they crashed, and took their toll
As day turned into night.
Smoke billowed
Concrete crumbled
Steel twisted and collapsed.

People ran
While others jumped.
The faithful said their prayers.

First responders charged right in
Against the flood
Of frightened, anxious, folk.
They ran and climbed,
                Into the fray,
                Without a thought of flight.

Upon their foreheads, healing oil,
                A gift from Father, friend.
Anointed for their chosen task,
                They march onward toward their end.
There they died
                With those they tried
                So valiantly to save.
Crumbled concrete,
Twisted carnage, rubble, piled high—
A tomb for one and all.

By a placid pool,
Their names now writ
A silent witness to their plight.

Would that there were no heroes
No soldier’s cross,
Or martyr’s loss,
Or liberating feat.
Would that there were no heroes
Answering the call
With valor, courage, grit.
Would that there were no heroes
No vengeance sought
Or justice served
Or battle cry called out.
Would that there were no heroes
                Men, women
Freedom’s best
Giving us their all.

Ships sailed forth
And fighters launched
As a new breed joined the fight.
Shock and Awe the battle cry
Justice,
Vengance,
Liberating force.
They fought, they died,
For freedom’s cause
tenfold their sacrifice.
Nations fell, first one, then two
Casualties of the cause.
Nowhere to hide
For they would not abide
By the terrorist’s gruesome law.

A noose,
A bullet,
Justice served.

Flag draped coffins
                Returning home
                To mother, wife, and child.
Heroes one, heroes all.
Yet still no satisfaction wrought
For the victim’s lonesome cry
And a nation’s tears that linger here and will until the end.

Would that there were no heroes
No soldier’s cross,
Or martyr’s loss,
Or liberating feat.
Would that there were no heroes
Answering the call
With valor, courage, grit.
Would that there were no heroes
No vengeance sought
Or justice served
Or battle cry called out.
Would that there were no heroes
                Men, women
Freedom’s best
Giving us their all.

Would that there were no heroes,
Save one, that one,
Who alone was born to die.

His blood alone,
Could redeem and save,
A broken, troubled world.
No vengeance here,
Or justice there,
But forgiveness, grace, and love.
A call to live,
A call to love,
A call to let it go.
‘Tis in his hands,
We find our hope,
Hands that the nails pierced.
From a stone hewed tomb
He bid us come,
With him, to life,
Anew. 
A clear blue sky.
A day unfolds,
Like none we’ve ever seen.
Empty grave,
Open tomb,
And final victory.
And from the garden walks the One,
Whose life alone could save
Each one of us, from our dark selves, and warring madness craved.

Would that there were no heroes.
Save one, that one,

And peace.

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