by Rebecca Schiavone

Listen to the Song

Jeremiah 31:15
“In Ramah is heard the sound of moaning, of bitter weeping!
Rachel mourns her children, she refuses to be consoled
because her children are no more”

Rachel watches from her window
They led away her child…
Breaking glass doesn’t echo, it shatters like the breast
Of a woman who has been torn in half

We hand her a porcelain dove
And try to tell her it’s Ok
Some things we can only accept
Some things we have to watch walk away
But the only sound heard in Jerusalem
Is Rachel crying

Somehow Rachel still has hope, though she knows they won’t return
She carries each bone to the top of the hill
We ask her what they are, she says “They’re
Pieces of angles, like petals of flowers,
Oh this, this…this was a wing”

We hand her a porcelain dove and try to tell her it’s Ok
Some things we can only accept
Some things we have to watch walk away
But the only sound heard in Guatemala
Is Rachel crying

The woman who lives
At the edge of the road tells her
“You better keep movin,
‘cause this isn’t your home”
She shakes her head, says “Well
You’re nowhere if you aren’t where you are--
If you don’t hear the alarm”

You can hand her a porcelain dove
Just don’t tell her it’s ok
Some things we can only accept
But when a child is dragged away
Then the only sound heard in Darfur
The only sound heard in Uganda
The only sound heard in Jerusalem
Is Rachel…

We are (they are)
Silent (no more)
We are (they are)
Silent (no more)
We are…No more

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