Lee Diamond – MOURNING A NATION
Yes it was our Temple
Yes it was our sovereignty
Yes it was Jerusalem
Yes it was the tears at the
Rivers of Babylon.
Yes it was the pangs of
Separation
And the self blame.
For all of these
We mourned
For all of these
We now focused our direction
For all of these we fasted
For all of these
We felt that יהוה
Had hidden from us.
Had forsaken us.
But the pain was the very glue
That connected us.
We beat our breasts together
As a united nation
Though divided by space.
The memory of loss kept
Us as a nation
Our prayer was to reunite
In space
To reunite
In time
To reunite In commonality
And יהוה heard from on HIGH
And some returned
To our nation.
But some remained in Babylon
And pretended to cry for
National loss
But forgot that exile
Was their own preferred choice.
And their tears dried
And their vision blurred
And their direction strayed
And they barely remembered
Zion.
But the greatest tragedy
Was and is the loss of our unique
nationality
The loss of connection
To this glorious people
Of Israel
To its past and present
And the transplanting
Our hearts
Into a different nation.
This is our Tisha bAv 2019
We need to mourn
Our loss of the nation
That we were
And the nation that we are
And must be.
For HE IS
The God of ISRAEL
And WE are the
People of ISRAEL
