Centipede

All creatures of our God and King 

 Lift up your voice and let us sing 

 O praise Him! O praise Him! 

 Alleluia. 

 Creation sent to me the centipede 

 To witness the complexity 

 Of one hundred legs that were moving unexpectedly 

 Ironically, just as they were meant to be 

 They’re fearfully and wonderfully made 

 An organism prays in circadian rhythms 

 The sun will rise, and the sun will set 

 The sun will rise again so lift up your head 

 This is life, not a static object preserved and displayed 

 Like a relic of the dead 

 You are not a fruitless tree with a rootless disease 

 Growin’ in a bucket in a rich man’s home 

 Next to the TV, tamed and alone 

 Learnin’ to lust for the things you don’t own 

 Like an armchair warrior who’s been dethroned 

 Declawed and fixed 

 Fightin’ for your life with unattended slit wrists 

 Don’t let your name get intermingled with a number 

 Cause it’s time to awaken from the devilish slumber 

 And freely follow the forerunner to the Fatherland 

 And rally ‘round the Renaissance man 

 And the wisdom of His ways 

 And all the work of His hands 

 Catch come as catch can 

 Concentrating on the good words of the Son of Man 

 The plan is to withstand the demands of a confused oppressor 

 A wolf in sheep’s clothes with monotonous lectures 

 And questionable gestures 

 Unequal measures 

 Cultural pressures 

 And synthetic textures 

 Force fed instead of the most beautiful architecture 

 Of our long lost, forgotten origins 

 Earth, seed, fiber and the blood of my kin 

 And that old rock where we confessed our sins 

 Oh, my God, fellow man, and this great land 

 They all cry out for full restoration 

 And this will take patience 

 And this will take the tribes and tongues of all the nations 

 And all of creation groans in anticipation 

 Waitin’ for the Son of God to be manifest 

 And I can feel it burnin’ in my chest 

 The liberation for the oppressed 

 And it’s beautiful like the feet that bring good news 

 It’s beautiful like this freedom tune 

 It’s beautiful like the power to choose, to change 

 Beautiful like the long awaited rain 

 Beautiful like the healing pains 

 Beautiful like to holy flames 

 Coming down 

 All creatures of our God and King 

 Lift up your voice and let us sing 

 O praise Him! O Praise Him! 

 Alleluia