Singing Gardens

On the earth of jails and gallows
singing gardens will bloom - Menke Katz


On the earth of jails and gallows,
singing gardens will bloom;
the prison house, with rat and louse,
will be swallowed up in gloom.

On seas of scows and whalers
a silence will fall again,
gilt with sun's gold, as in days of old,
before the seafaring men.

In cities that once were prairies,
fields, and green woodlands vast,
big grids will fail, as sirens wail
in a darkness that will last.

In nations that once were empires,
where industry fattened on war,
banks will tumble, and want will humble
the rich man and the poor.

On the earth of jails and gallows
gardens will sing and grow wild;
and Christ the meek will teach and speak
in the breath of a sleeping child.



 - 9.17.13