A Prayer for Leonard Cohen, and That Syrian Girl Without a Hospital

nothing new, nothing to see,
just another mound of rubble

and still the dogs zig and
zag over the cold stones,
their handlers holding tight,
awaiting a pause and deeper

inhalation

now the rescuers kneel
removing stone by careful stone,
the veil of destruction lifted from

the face of a girl

awake, blinking, inert,
four days entombed
but alive, alive oh!

HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH,
HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH

(he sang of things
above and below,
the eternal fusion,
the fast and slow)

(the recurrent broken hallelujahs)

a man lifts her,
this perhaps 4-year-old,
the christ child in swaddling clothes
suffering the sins of the world

lord forgive them, for they know not what they do

HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH,
HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH

he scans the cratered street,
the search now for a car and
swift transport to the hospital

and the announcer, camera crew
providing witness to this atrocity

intones:

it’s a rush to get her to hospital
except even there she may not be safe

hospitals, too, a prime target

lord, they know exactly what they do,
what shall we do in return?

MAYBE THERE’S A GOD ABOVE
ALL I’VE EVER LEARNED FROM LOVE
WAS HOW TO SHOOT SOMEBODY WHO OUTDREW YA

HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH,
HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH

we beg for an accounting,
some greater justice to shore up
our fragile faith in the good

clinging to the noble selfless
search of the able-bodied
for the injured and deceased

IT’S A COLD AND IT’S A BROKEN HALLELUJAH

HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH,
HALLELUJAH, HALLELUJAH

status of that girl unknown,
one more for the ledger
of “Casualties,”
the military term
lumping together the
dead and merely maimed

AND THE HOLY DOVE WAS MOVING TOO
AND EVERY BREATH WE DREW WAS HALLELUJAH

a prayer now for the breaths she may yet draw

hallelujah

broken

hallelujah

***

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Elizabeth Haslam, whose photos (except for the books) grace the rotating banner at the top of this page. Some rights reserved under Creative Commons licensing, see more at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lizhaslam/

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Photo of art detail from the ceiling of a church in Vienna by Waiting for the Word, some rights reserved under Creative Commons, see more at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/waitingfortheword/