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.