THE HEALING RIVER

All the world in conflict struggles

Truth is wounded, millions are enslaved;

By the river we look,

and in the reeds we find a child.

We will sing the Lord’s song

and we will be sustained;

The path to the true and promised land,

to the place of greatest healing,

Begins at the river.

In the wounded city, bombed again,

Where children cower against the blasts,

A river flows in Babylon,

Peace runs through its heart.

Peace is the child who at first light

Washes in calm waters at the river’s edge,

Turns, and sees in a vision the city healed,

The leaves of the trees all new and green again.

We will sing the Lord’s song

And we will be sustained;

The path to the true and promised land,

to the place of greatest healing,

Begins at the river.

Up from the little river to the old City,

The shopkeepers whisper “a salaam,”

The monastery rings the little hours,

Nine men congregate looking for one more.

Here is no world at ease,

No easy peace;

Death is in this city above the river,

Where we always stone the prophets.

Near here the hoped-for Child was born,

Near here he also died.

Not too far from here the Servant of God

Sent the people to this place.

Near here the Prophet’s dream carried him to God,

(May peace be upon him.)

May peace be upon us all,

Upon us all.

May we sing in peace the Lord’s song,

In strange lands and by a more familiar river;

We will sing the Lord’s song

and we will be sustained;

The path to the true and promised land,

to the place of greatest healing,

Begins at the river.