85
Yahweh, you have been favorable to the caravan: you have overturned our captivity. You have forgiven us and waived away our mistakes. No longer are you so fiercely angry with us.
Yet it seems that you are still quite furious at us. Will your rage last forever? Are you planning on punishing our children, and their innocent children? Is that what type of god you are?
Pity us, O Yahweh; be our savior.
I will listen to see if Yahweh responds to this prayer. I expect that he will speak peacefully to us wayfarers, and tell us to cut out the selfish, greedy behavior. That seems to be what he has a problem with; when we let money outrank humans. But surely salvation is near for whoever earnestly cares about the Volcano.
Now what is the verdict?
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth sprang out of the earth; and righteousness looked down from heaven.
Yes, I believe that Yahweh shall do what is good.
86
Bend down, O Yahweh, hold your head close to my lips, so I can speak into your ear, for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my soul, for I am holy.
You are my god; why let me down? Save me because I trust in you. Be merciful. Look, I cry unto you daily. Now let me rejoice: lift up my soul.
For you, Yahweh, are good. You are ready to forgive. You have plenty of mercy. Bring down your ear, and listen to my supplications. I will call to you; now you attend to my voice, and answer me.
Among the gods there is none like you, O Yahweh. Neither are there any creations like your creation.
You established all the nations. Now they should all come and worship you, O Yahweh, so that your name can blaze bright.
For you are great. You do wonders. You are the best god.
You have been so kind to me; you are truly my savior. You pulled my soul up out of the lowest hell.
Look, Lord, proud men have risen against me, and violent organizations are hunting my soul. These enemies do not believe in you.
But you, O Yahweh, are a compassionate god. You are gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. You have always helped me and given me comfort.
Turn, therefore: infuse me with strength, and save me. Give me a token for good, so that I can show it to those who hate me, and make them ashamed.
87
His foundation is in the holy mountains.
Yahweh loves the melting pot more than solidified cities; he favors the caravan over Eldorado.
When I mention the subaqueous provinces of the Sea People, and the Happy Isles, or when I bring up the City of Emeralds and Wonderland, he says: “Such-and-such Seed of Promise was conceived there.” This mixing and mingling preoccupies him. The melding of nations. Untapped potential.
Perhaps someday we shall unite with the highest himself. He always talks about a wedding.
Meanwhile, Yahweh keeps counting the people and writing in his scroll, which never stops unrolling. Think about that.
Volcanic Oracle: “As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there; all my springs are in you.”
88
O my savior, my lord, my god, I have cried to you night and day; stop postponing your reply, for my life is drawing near to the grave. They have already numbered me among those that go down to the pit; I might as well be there already: a corpse with no strength to move; free among the dead, like the slain that lie in a ditch, whom you remember no more, and they are cut off from your power.
You have laid me in the lowest abyss, in darkness, in the deeps. Your wrath fell hard upon me; you drowned me with your waves. You removed all my friends away; you made me an abomination unto them: I am now trapped and cannot escape. My eye weeps because of this punishment that you have inflicted upon me, which is more than I can take; that is why I am crying to you continually: every day, I stretch out my hands to you.
Will you do wonders for the dead? Why not make a corpse arise, so that it can praise you? Think about it.
Shall your lovingkindness be limited to the living only? Why not extend it into the grave? Is your faithfulness good only for those who have life in their limbs, or will you share it with those of us who are part of destruction? Are you unable to perform miracles in the dark? I doubt that you are so limited: I believe that you can do it. You can expand your righteousness into the land of forgetfulness.
Unto you I keep crying, O Yahweh. Is some other prayer preventing you? Why did you cast off my soul? Why do you hide your face from me?
I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. Your fierce wrath went over me; your terrors cut me off. They submerged me like water. You took away all my friends and lovers, and you put them all in darkness.
89
Every single heaven shall praise your wonders, O Yahweh. For who in any heaven can be compared unto you? Who among the strongmen can be likened to Yahweh?
O Yahweh God of the Armies, who else is a strong Yahweh like you? Who has such an intense aura of faithfulness?
You rule the raging sea. The waves arise, and you still them.
You broke the Chaos Dragon into pieces; you made her just like one who is slain. You scattered her parts around the sky and everywhere else, with your strong arm.
The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours. You are their founder.
The north and the south: you invented them. Saint Helens and Vesuvius burst into song at your name.
You have a mighty arm: strong is your hand, and very high.
Mercy and truth always go before your face. And a joyful sound accompanies your every step, because your happy friends walk in the light of your countenance.
Then you spoke in a vision to your Holy One, and said: “I have chosen you out of the multitude to exalt you. With my oil I now anoint you. I will beat down your foes before your face, and plague them that hate you. But I will keep your horn strong. You shall preside over the seas and all the rivers. And you shall utter to me: ‘O father, O God.’ Also I will make you my firstborn, higher than all the other earthly leaders. Your term of rule shall last forever. You shall endure before me like the sun, at the center of the world.”
However, then you cast off and abhorred him! you were angry with your Anointed One. You have made void your covenant with him. You have profaned his crown by smiting it off his head. You have broken down all his churches. Everyone who passes by spoils him; he is a reproach to the other elohims. You have strengthened the satans who oppose him; you have made all his adversaries to rejoice. You have dulled his sword and dimmed his glory. You have forsaken him. He is finished.
“No man shall live and not see death,” says the god Yahweh. “No soul shall be rescued from the grave.”
Did you beget him in vain? How long, Yahweh, shall your fires burn against your Anointed Messiah?
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