"Covenant"

COVENANT

            for the West Philly Ex-Pats

1

Until the heart stops beating

flesh is Zion and birth is homecoming.

Until the heart stops beating

mind teems with exile-thoughts it must learn to tame.

Until the heart stops beating

lives are sealed in tombs of time.

Until the heart stops beating

this body is locus of dreams and dramas.

Until the heart stops beating

these hands are handed the reliquary of relay.

Until the heart stops beating

this life is the only lit thing for miles.

Until the heart stops beating

the heart remains a captive of constancy

powerless to stop the power to be.

2

You have no choice

but to sing the Lord's song

wherever it is asked of you.

Your life unchained and reclaimed

is the temple rebuilt

whose walls do not fall.

You won't remember

the words of the psalm

until you write them.

Come sit here

where you're not a stranger

not even to yourself.

3

Spells won't bring it back

or make it last

a moment longer.

If you must conjure

learn to spell

you name

as one of God's.

--David Federman, Ardmore, March 4, 2014