will root out your enemies
We will burn them
We will destroy their posterity
They shall be devoured
Their history destroyed
Their languages erased
Their music ridiculed
In your Holy Name
Amen
Psalm Twenty–two
1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?Why art thou so far from helping me, And from the words of my groaning?2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou answerest not;And in the night season, and am not silent.3 But thou art holy,O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.4 Our fathers trusted in thee:They trusted, and thou didst deliver them.5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered:They trusted in thee, and were not put to shame.6 But I am a worm, and no man;A reproach of men, and despised of the people.7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn:They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,8 Commit thyself unto God; let him deliver him:Let him rescue him, seeing he delighteth in him.9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb;Thou didst make me trust when I was upon my mother’s breasts.10 I was cast upon thee from the womb;Thou art my God since my mother bare me.11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near;For there is none to help.12 Many bulls have compassed me;Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.13 They gape upon me with their mouth,As a ravening and a roaring lion.14 I am poured out like water,And all my bones are out of joint:My heart is like wax;It is melted within me.15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd;And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws;And thou hast brought me into the dust of death.16 For dogs have compassed me:A company of evil-doers have inclosed me;They pierced my hands and my feet.17 I may count all my bones.They look and stare upon me;18 They part my garments among them,And upon my vesture do they cast lots.19 But be not thou far off, O God:O thou my succor, haste thee to help me.20 Deliver my soul from the sword,My darling from the power of the dog.21 Save me from the lion’s mouth;Yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen thou hast answered me.22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren:In the midst of the assembly will I praise thee.23 Ye that fear God, praise him;All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him;And stand in awe of him, all ye the seed of Israel.24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;Neither hath he hid his face from him;But when he cried unto him, he heard.25 Of thee cometh my praise in the great assembly:I will pay my vows before them that fear him.26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied;They shall praise God that seek after him:Let your heart live for ever.27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto God;And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.28 For the kingdom is God’s;And he is the ruler over the nations.29 All the fat ones of the earth shall eat and worship:All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him,Even he that cannot keep his soul alive.30 A seed shall serve him;It shall be told of the Lord unto the next generation.31 They shall come and shall declare his righteousness Unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done it.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Said the Son of Man
The rest of us—
Who hears our roar?
The historians?
Who is this divinity we talk about
And sometimes remember to address?
Our parents trusted you
And said simply
You answer prayers
Jesus said if we ask for an egg
Will you give us a stone?
Ask and it shall be given to you
Grandma asked for money
And it always came, she said
So far so good
We are the new generation
Subsisting on opioids
Anti-depressants
Oxycontin
Fentanyl
Heroin
Haagen Dazs
Salted caramel
Who cares about calories?
My six-hundred-pound life
The Center of the Universe
I wait upon the so-called lord
Drowning in despair
Deliver my soul.
None but you
Can keep it alive
None but you
Can hear my cry
In the meantime
Please pass the Krispy Kremes
Psalm Twenty–three
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;He leadeth me beside still waters.3 He restoreth my soul:He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil; for thou art with me;Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:Thou hast anointed my head with oil;My cup runneth over.6 Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me All the days of my life;And I shall dwell in the house of God for ever.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want
Said the debutante
With the Alpha Romeo and the Charleston pedigree
He maketh me lie down in green pastures
She continued on
Thinking of the first time she gave it away
Except she never gave nothin’ away
She always had a price
Lying in a wildflowered field once devoted to Irish potatoes
In Bridgehampton near the beach
And the relentless summer sun
For ten minutes she restored her soul
And forgot about wild dogs and copperheads
And the man who fucked her
And forgot how to pray
She said
Except she didn’t forget
She
