by Ryan Keating

Shout louder, Lord,
they cannot hear you 
from under the rubble,
that altar of broken earth
where buried souls cry out
for justice and their blood
is speaking a better word
than the silence in the air.

Call out that it is finished, and
tear the curtain of concrete
that separates heaven and earth,
holding back the holy 
from ascending to us whole.
By your voice, a cosmic crane,
lift souls through steel and stone 
and bring them in your breath to you.

Ryan Keating is a writer, pastor, and winemaker on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. His work can be found in publications such as Saint Katherine Review, Ekstasis Magazine, Amethyst Review, Macrina Magazine, Fathom, Vocivia, Roi Fainéant, and Miras Dergi, where he is a regular contributor in English and Turkish.

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