rivers of Babylon - new work from today

Rabanal del Camino, Spain
24 February 2018
rivers of Babylon
-       adapted from the song by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Melodians

‘cause the wicked
carried us away
captivity

and we chewed
the little sorghum
they gave us

as our only food
and we slept beneath
the great beasts

and figures outlined
by the stars
and arranged

in the great dark
(a darkness that really
is only old, tired light)

evening sky
that rolls
slowly

and patiently
in deep infinity
over our heads

and that rolls
through our deepening
souls—‘cause the wicked

 carried us away
captivity 
required from us a song

how can we sing
King Alpha’s song
in a strange land?

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