The River of Tears

Within us all there is an
Eternal river that knows not time.
It has no beginning and no end.
It flows to the emptiness that is:
that which was before the beginning
When the Word breathed
The spirit across the dark waters.

This is the River of Tears which
From time immemorial carries the
Tears of all Earth's children.
Its waters speak a universal language of
Pain, suffering and joy.

In its flow one hears
The cries of the orphans, the widows,
The unborn, the poor, and all who cry
Out to us to ease their pain and suffering.
Here are the sobs of the lonely who
Sit and wait for those who never come,
The muted whimpers of mothers cradling
their starving children, and
The exploited and abused that cry
Themselves to sleep each night
Asking, "Does anyone care?"

Here, to, we find our own tears:
Those of Joy and others of Sorrow.
In them are the memories of former times
When those we love leave us with hopes
Of meeting again in a new day and place.
We hear the ripples of our own false promises,
The "if only's, and I wish" that remind
Us of the shortness of our time here.

In its eddies are written the names sorrow
Which flow into eternity:
Calvary, Auschwitz, My Lei, and Rwanda
are just a few whose wails pierce its surface.
Centuries of war flood its banks
With the screams of death amid the
Slaughter of the innocents who longed
For nothing but to see another Sunrise.

As war's brutality destroys
God's creation all in the name of certitude,
Cries of the living join the silence of the dead
In a dirge of anguish and sorrow.
Enemies' tears in death flow together as one
While the living with no tears left ask, "Why?"

Yet, there is hope in these waters
In which we live our daily lives
For here, too, are the healing currents
Of compassion where the peoples of all
Nations reach out to each other in love,
Bring hope to dispair and life to death.
On its bank we minister to those in need,
Not in words spoken in hollow tense,
But in actions of love written with each breath.

We are called to immerse ourselves in this
River's reservoir of compassion and grace
Where we strip ourselves of self,
Blindness, and hardness of heart.
For it is here we break the bonds
Of fear, hate and hopelessness
And open our hearts to the love of all creation.
it is here we fill the cup for those who
Cry out, "I thirst".

just as the river flows as one
So, too, are we all one.
Your tears are my tears.
"Their" tears are our tears.
The rivers living water
Knows no past or future,
Only the wonders of the present moment.
A time of Grace, forgiveness and new life.
Our river of tears confirms that we are
All in the oneness of our Creator.