A Psalm for Her City

Had to write my own psalm for a First Testament course this semester and the following is what I came up with... it's based on a conversation I had with a woman who used to call the Occupy Philly encampment her home.

Creator, nurturing mother;
     Your love and beauty fill all the earth.

Nurturing mother;

     You come to even the forbidden places,

     the merciless grid of the city street.

Yet the demons of poverty, and hunger and open-air death dealing

     press in on me.

The hellhounds of addiction, and depression and hopelessness

     seek to overtake me.

How could I remain without your guiding hand?

     What would I do without your comforting embrace?

May you vanquish my enemies O Lord,

     not with the sting of your sword,

     but with the wild shoots of your garden

     breaking forth through blood stained concrete.

I know your attentive ear

     will hear the groans of your child

     stripped of her humanity.

I am blameless Lord.

     I shout your name from atop tenements.

     I shout within burned out rowhouses.

     I shout both night and day.

     I shout you are my strength, my healer, and my champion.