Psalm of Lament

For my Psalms class, we have to write our own psalms, following the basic rules for the different types of psalms. This week, we had to write a psalm of lament. Here is mine, that I wrote right after having seen a play about child soldiers in Uganda.

PSALM OF LAMENT
(after seeing "Butterflies of Uganda")

We've heard it said
You are righteous and You are just.
We've heard it said, You are committed to us,
You hear the cry of the oppressed,
And You don't break promises.
Our Mothers and Fathers
Our Teachers and Pastors
They spoke of Your faithfulness.

But today, we do not see justice.
We do not see righteousness.
Today, we do not see faithfulness.

I see our families being ripped apart.
I hear gunshots;
The cries of our mothers being raped.
The cries of our fathers being maimed.
I smell the smoke from our charred homes,
I feel the hot breath of the rebels on our necks,
I hear their shrill voices ordering us
To kill.

I've heard of Moses, how You parted the Red Sea,
I've heard of Paul, how You delivered him from prison,
I've heard of the blind man, You gave him sight.
Oh God,
Have You heard of us?

We are the child soldiers,
Will you deliver us?

What have we done, Lord?
We were blameless.
We were children.
We played, we laughed, we sang to You.

Tonight it is cold, it is dark, it is haunting.
We plead;
Act on our behalf.
Hear our cry.
We trust, as much as we know how.
We want to believe in the power of your miracles.
Give us a reason for our hope,
For Your name's sake.
For us.
So we can join our Mothers, our Fathers,
Our teachers, our Pastors,
In telling of Your faithfulness.
Make haste, Lord,
Make haste to save us.
Amen.