Mother Forgive Them
Mordewis ap Llys

Remember the burnings, the hangings, the shame,
Your dying in prison defending the Names
Remember the taunts and the curses and stones,
The smell of your flesh and the snapping of bones
But you cannot remember the tears their God shed
As He counted the millions of dead.
Mother, forgive them.

You swear now it never shall happen again
As you gather your strength and you sharpen your pen
But the Earth does not heal sowing bones into blood;
New life comes from seeds planted deep in the mud
The lesson we've taught them these thousands of days
Is that they could not bury our ways.
Mother, forgive them, and teach us to love them.

Do not play the game -- we could all learn to hate.
Remember the Laws: Threefold will be out fate.
The freedom to hate is no freedom at all
But love, trust and memory will cause it to fall
And never forget the old women who died
Without ever knowing we cried . . .
Mother forgive them, and help us to teach them
What we do . . . and what they've done!

copyright ©1998 by Gerald L. Bliss (Mordewis Gaeafbran ap Llys) . All Rights Reserved. Written on the French Broad River near Alexander, NC in Elizabeth Eames' bus, 8/23/98.


copyright 1998 Gerald L Bliss (same person)