Martyrs

Reading your names one by one on the plaque

  listed by your baptism on some, others kept

Such a sad thing of loss, you died for faith 

  you died for protection from abuse

No surrender and singing strong, praying

  until the very end, be not afraid

Such a strong decision to say no to power

  you had survived as a tapestry woven

Tribal, Muslim, Christian and then the time

  passed and tolerance was gone

Replaced by the rigidity of my power,

  my way, my right and you were gone

Gone on to peace and grace

  gone on to loves wide open arms

Yes, we tend to romanticize this

  remember, remember is cried

To remember is to know we can't hold 

  rigidly to right and wrong or we forget

Forget and do violence for our own way

  when the way of peace is to place

Faith in coexisting with the whole family

  written into the story again and again

For us to hear, my kingdom does not last

  God's vision of all does