By The Waters of Babylon

A face, a face! I’ll put it on
To please these masters, hide this fear,
And keep me safe in Babylon.
They ask a song so they can hear
Some laughter as we set up camp
Beside this river full of reeds.
We sing of Zion as the lamp
Of God that for our people leads
Us home into the promised land.
But sing of Zion far away
And captured by a stranger’s hand
To serve their pleasure day by day?
Inside the face-like shell I’ve made
My fear is tinder for this spark
Which lights a rage that will not fade.
The mask, still singing like a lark,
Will carry on to keep them calm
But in my chest my secret heart
Applies this prayer as if a balm:
Dear God, please tear them all apart
When our great king arrives to reign
May buzzards feast upon their bones
And may we use the strength of pain
To dash their children on the stones.
This bottled blaze is how we cope
With captors here beside the shore
But with our burning, love’s last hope
Is seized and drowned beneath the current.