Haiti: the Land of bitter tears!

Haiti: the Land of bitter tears!

By Celucien L. Joseph (January 14, 2010)

 

Oh the most merciful and gracious God, why Haiti again?

Have we not had enough?

Is this what you call love?

This justice is bitter

We who are left, how shall we look up?

 

God of our bitter tears,

Where’s grace when it’s most needed?

Where’s hope for our wretched souls?

Where’s love when hate abounds?

Kindness has left us

Joy is no more

Peace has renounced us

 

God of our endless wounds,

Has the land of freedom black become a graveyard, and a jungle-folk?

Mourning their tragic loss…

A hundred drop of tears

In Children face they come…

 

God of our weary years,

Long ago Négrier betrayed us

300 years of bitter herbs…

Of poignant and despairing spirituals, we shall sing no more

Trampled under the strength of the mighty ones…

200 years of failed justice and false hopes

 Of foreign uses and abuses of Ayiti Cherie

What will happen next…?

In peaceful solitude of death we will be remembered.

 

God of our silent nights,

Have not our weary feet stumbled?

Who will write our story?

Who will write you songs of praise…?

Sing joy in the realm of the loss…?

How about morning melody?

Have we all been together erased and excommunicated?

 

God of our heavy sorrows,

If we must die, let it not be like orphans or dogs,

Nor those without hope

May we forever forget…?

May we evermore trod…?

It’s a long road to Guinea, of eternal dark days ahead

No sun will shine for us, in our dark land

We know all the roads of the world

Since we were sold in slavery, long ago…

 

God of our darkened days,

Will the moon guide our sleepy paths?

Will we sing the spirituals of the age-old Nile, in the new land?

Silence, separation, tears, lynching, all we know

We are fragmented and split between…

We also know hope and hope still…

Will another song spring forth from our voice to the sky?

Will we count still…?

 

God of our forgotten trials,

On your unqualified loving-kindness, 

Unconditional mercy and unreserved love

We shall stand and fall…

Upon the Lord above, in hope our soul shall rest

Standing tall at thy summit…

Lest we forget Thee…

Lead us into thy Light…

Toward freedom we shall march…

Oh God of our weary years