a psalm for Sierra Leone

You Will Shine

a psalm for Sierra Leone

by Paula Kirby

I choose to sing your song O Lord

for if I don't, I shall surely cry, and perhaps, never ever stop.

I'll cry for the evil of powerful men

who dig for diamonds in a soil not their own

and ravage the soul of a people.

I'll cry for a land shell-shocked and tattered

sitting glazed-eyed and squalid, ankle-deep in mud.

I'll cry for the horror of crazed, bedeviled minds

who weld fire into the chests of screaming children.

I'll wail fo rthe girls slapped, tied and tortured

forced to become women before their time

for their bellies stretched and hard some nine months later

and for thier screams, yet again, and again, in the night.

I'll cry for the still-born babies

       for the splintered families

              for forgiveness that cuts deeper than knives

for the severed limbs

       and the ripped flesh

              and the hearts torn and pummeled beyond hope.

I'll cry for you Sierra Leone -

and God in His mercy will turn my tears to prayer -

prayer for your beautiful land, for your lush and rolling hillsk for your people of promise

I will pray that you will rise,

       that the promise of God will prevail

              that love, in the end, will not fail.

I pray that your blood-washed land will be rained upon and showered with His Grace

       that you will know His kindness

              that you will see His scarred face.

For in His eyes all pain dissolves. In His heart all bitterness dies.

For like you, He too, was blood-soaked. Like you, He too, was bound and scarred,

yet sweeping away shame, He overcame and says, YOU TOO, SHALL RISE.

So I'll sing my song for you Sierra Leone. And I'll shout it louder than in truth

God will wipe away every tear. And before the power of His Love no fear can stand.

       Like your beaches, unsullied you will be.

              Like your hills, you will laugh and dance.

And like the diamonds in your soil, once again, bejewelled land, YOU WILL SHINE!