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From Across the Line (Free verse) by Dovina
(After Psalm 137)
By Flynnâs Creek, I sat and wept,
remembering Pasadena
and the God of my father.
There on a poplar,
I hung my guitar,
for there my captor asked for a song.
My tormentor demanded songs of joy:
"Sing me a song of Pasadena
and the God of your father."
How can I sing the songs of my youth
while in a foreign land,
to which I fled while my father wept?
If I forget you, O my father,
may my right hand forget its skill;
may my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth.
Remember, O Lord, what I did on the day I fell.
"Tear it down," I cried,
"tear down the foundations of my faith!"
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you,
he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
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