this was written in the mid-eighties as aids mushroomed into an epidemic … in this season of hope and renewal, i dedicate it to all those soldiers and civilians living in fear that their lives will be needlessly taken from them
like the first-born sons of egypt
we live now in constant dread
mourning all the friends now dead
or dying
joining the communal crying
for the loss of those so young
that fate’s odd ways
find us among
why!?
we scream
and beat our breast
as another goes to ret
what mark was missing
from his door?
why should he die?
is there a plan
concocted by some moses-man
to settle an unfathomed score
against a pharoah crowned unseen?
what does all this dying mean?
angel, angel, hear my plea
please pass over friends and me
fly on by
and let us be
pass on
pass over
peacefully
in the streets
the wails crescendo
carrying an innuendo
that similar cacophony
could some day be for you or me
such dread
and oh such sorrow
only to increase tomorrow
more tales of innocent demise
and vain attempts to shield our eyes
from yet more sadness
than it seems possible to bear
failed efforts not to care
so very much
that one more brother
who we liked or touched
has met this foreign god’s
odd wrath
and fallen in the angel’s path
angel, angel, hear my plea
please pass over friends and me
fly on by
and let us be
pass on
pass over
peacefully
the night wears on
endless in its cruelty
no dawn in sight for clemency
pharoah, let the people go
stop the dying
let us grow
in peace
let our chastened ranks increase
in love and understanding
whatever moses is demanding
agree
and let the slaughter end
stop the death and spare a friend
or lives of those i’ve never known
but leave no others left alone
to face this terror on their own
angel, angel, hear my plea
please pass over friends and me
fly on by
and let us be
pass on
pass over
peacefully