PTSD and Psalms

Katy Z. Allen
Wayland, Massachusetts

Yah is at my right hand, I shall not falter.

Maltreatment, disregard, cruelty,
abuse, defilement, contamination
do not go unnoticed,
by the corporeal or the incorporeal,
whether inflicted upon
an individual or a people,
a species or an ecosystem,
an atmosphere or a planet.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.

Aftereffects
aftershocks
continue
for years, decades, generations,
millennia.

Truth springs up from the Earth; justice looks down from heaven.

As an individual,
I have lived the impact.
Among too many peoples,
I have seen the devastation.

I call to You, my Rock, do not disregard us.

Regarding countless species
I have witnessed disappearance.
For ecosystems large and small,
I have mourned their loss.

Deep calls to deep.

With the Earth and the air
I have felt the trauma
in my lungs
               and in my bones
in my cells
              and in my vessels
in my heart
                            and in my soul.

Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my outcry come to You.

Psalms cited: 16:8, 130:1, 85:12, 28:1, 47:2, 39:13