In our hearts and minds
From homes across this land
We gather
We join with one another
To call down blessings on the over one million souls
Who have died from this virus
An unimaginable number
A collective of souls more possessing of love, life, spirit and worth than can be counted
The grandparents
The children
The mothers
The sisters
The friends
The lovers
The ones we found it hard to love
The ones we never got the chance to love
We could never weep enough
It is a loss and a grief too wide to comprehend
But we honour our need to mourn
With our heavy hearts, we lift up the dead
May we do so in our memories
In our actions as people
And the decisions we make as communities
May we create a kinder, fairer world in their memory
May we look after the ones who have been left behind
May we right the imbalances, the injustices which allowed black and brown communities to be robbed of the greatest number of precious ones.
To every single one of the 1.17 million souls – we honour you
Nothing can carve meaning out of your needless deaths
But we will remember you.
May we bless you when we weep
May we remember you when we laugh
Your lives mattered
May ours be a tribute to you
And
May you go on to wherever is next, laughing and free.
The Religion Beat 