Every year on 9/11 my services always include this song – played, sung or spoken. “If I Give Your Name” by Pat Humphries and Sandy O of Emma’s Revolution. As well as some version of Judy Chicago’s Merger Poem as prayer, as meditation, as wish and as dream. May the day come when we can all live in gentle compassion and peaceableness.
“If I Give Your Name”
by: Emma’s Revolution (Sandy O & Pat Humphries)
Chorus:
I have no papers, I have no rights All my days end in sleepless nights Missing you, silently, If I give your name Will they come after me?
Mi esposa, my wife, worked on the 80th floor, The company had hired illegals before
She got the job by word of mouth,
That’s the way in the northwhen you’re from the south
They say 3,000 but the counting’s not done, Mi esposa esta muerta, (My wife is dead) Three thousand and one
Mi hermano, my brother, the elevator man A doctor in our country
but you take what you can
I saw the photos in Union Square
But I could not leave his picture there
They say 3,000 but that’s not true
Mi hermano no volvera (My brother will not return) Three thousand and two
Mi hija, my daughter, went in early that day She had always been that way
Her daughter asks, “Where did she go?” How to tell her, I don’t know
They say 3,000 but that can’t be Perdi a mi hija (I lost my daughter) Three thousand and three
Mi padre, my father, I have no words I tried to find you when I heard
They gave some ashes
to families
But I’ll only have the ones I breathe They say 3,000
there’s so many more Desaparecidos (Disappeared) Three thousand and four
Mi esposa, my wife. Will they come after me?
Mi hermano, my brother. Will they come after me? Mi hija, my daughter. Will they come after me?
Mi padre, my father.
If I give your name,
Will they come after me?
https://emmasrevolution.com/music
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Merger Poem by: Judy Chicago
And then all that has divided us will merge And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong
And then no person will be subject to another’s will And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many
And then all will share equally in the Earth’s abundance And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old
And then all will nourish the young And then all will cherish life’s creatures
And then everywhere will be called Eden once again.