1 Broken buildings, flooded rivers
foaming like a liquid hell;
jagged rocks and raging waters,
currents twisting break the swell
into such a tortured maelstrom;
people reach and lives are saved;
human beings loved and treasured
where the waters heaved and raved.
2 Devastation, ruined farmland,
crops destroyed compound the threat,
images assail our conscience,
sights we never will forget;
here where homes had offered comfort
degradation meets our eyes,
while the thunder of the waters
drowns the sound of human cries.
3 God, we cry, as lives are wasted,
hold us when all else is lost;
where the floods have brought destruction
hold us, help us share this cost.
Lift us out of dereliction,
help us reach to those in need,
love them till all fear has foundered,
till they know they’re safe and freed.
Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Metre: 8 7 8 7 D
Tune: HYFRYDOL
Words © 2022 © 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., adapted from ‘Swirling winds and raging oceans’ © 2017 Stainer and Bell Ltd.
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