The rubble and the language – words for our time, for Gaza

The rubble and the language – words for our time, for Gaza

The rubble and the language, 
discarded, damaged lives, 
are things that evil scatters;
no hope of love survives 
when narcissistic grasping 
eradicates all grace, 
if protest sinks in silence 
love leaves our human race.

Bereft of all compassion, 
with empathy stripped bare, 
humanity extinguished, 
while people suffer there; 
this world is desecrated 
can we not find a way 
to heal and mend relations 
to counter this decay.

With hatred running rampant, 
while sinking in despair, 
is there no other option 
to clear this rancid air, 
to open doors to trusting, 
to take the risk to dare 
to find a new beginning, 
through action, kindness, prayer.

Alternative last 4 lines:

From warring words and venom 
could we at last relent, 
or still continue headlong 
to hell to which we’re bent?

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2025 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd.

Notes
This is probably best used as a reading. No tune is offered, though, being metrical it could be sung – as a protest song (or a hymn?).