Things Worshippers Must See and Hear

From Mother Poems and A Crack in Time by Shambhavi Sarasvati at Kindred 108. We're all kindred here.

Lutheran Church of Bethlehem, Palestine, 2023 nativity scene

Things Worshippers Must See and Hear

Blue-lipped children shaking with shock and fear.
A hand rescued, torn from the wrist. Tendons dangling.
Shot by strutting soldiers. A man in the street on his knees.
Neighbors run toward bombs to recover their dead.

A newborn swaddled in brown dust.
Head askew. Neck partially severed.
Shouts and cries in the chasms
between detonations.
Phosphorous-burned limbs. 
Bodies made small by shredding.

They bleed on muddy hospital floors.
Sheets of copy paper cover their wounds.
Children seize. Tonic hands and feet curled.
Heads back. Eyes rolling.
Fresh blood glistens on the street.

Still alive, a face flashes from the ruins.
Neighbors dig with bare hands and reassuring words.
At every age, they call for God and their mothers.

The brave young journalist Bisan
cries for the loss of relics, libraries and
painless gatherings.
All of our tears are being written
in the blood and bones of the world.
Even those who turn away will not soon be forgetting.

Worship is the eyes meeting
what offers itself to be seen.
Worship is the ears meeting
what offers itself to be heard.
Worship is also the embrace
of what arrives and demands speaking.
 

from Mother Poems and A Crack in Time by Shambhavi Sarasvati

Listen to Shambhavi reading the poem

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