‘We (the United Kingdom) passed 100,000 deaths from Covid. I had to write this or my heart would have broken.’ — Zachary
We are gone to rags and tatters,
So many broken threads,
The warp and weft of life gone all awry.
This earthquake reaching out,
From life to life,
Lethal shock passing like static,
From hand to reaching hand.
How many slipped away without remembrance?
Without cleansing tears shed,
And stories told.
Their names gone dull,
A stone in the mouth of those who loved them.
Lift us, O God.
Bring us together,
Twine our lives,
Braid our grief to itself,
In the silent grey spaces once full.
Tell us we are loved.
Tell us grace will win.
Tell us we are enough,
And we will live in peace again.
This trust we give you,
That you can hold our hearts in bloodied hands,
And weep, I know you weep,
For what is wrought here.
And enfold us in your wings,
You are enough.
You hold us in our shaking, fragile selves.
And the names of all we’ve lost,
Are written in salt on your face.
And in that silence, we can cry, ‘Too much!
Too much! I cannot bear!’
And give it all to you,
Because you can.
