Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Pharaoh’s army got drownded; Oh Mary, don’t you weep!

Was it Mary of Bethany,

weeping for her dead brother?

Perhaps Mary of Magdala,

weeping in the garden for her dead master?

Or Mary the mother,

weeping for her crucified son

as he is lowered from his cross?

There are a lot of weeping Marys;

which one was the old song-writer

seeking to console?


Cheer up, Mary, he is saying;

if God can consign the army of Pharaoh

to such a watery destruction,

he can surely remedy

your own cause for grief.


There must have been much weeping

also in Egypt, according to the story

told by the Hebrew people.

Every family from Pharaoh down,

weeping for their slain firstborn.

And now, the mothers, wives and children

of the noble and loyal soldiers

swept away by the sea;

and Moses’ God.

Can you hear them?

Oh Mary, don’t you weep.


Certainly Miriam is not weeping

as she leads the Hebrew people

in song and dance triumph and joy.

Pharaoh’s army got drownded!


© 2011 Ken Rookes

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