Our hands, O God, are stained with blood
Which comes from family trees
Or flows from nations and the gods
They seek with fire to please.
Sometimes, O God, that blood was spilt
With hate’s avenging eye
That punished foes and nature’s life
And left the weak to die.
O who can cleanse these blood-stained hands,
Who purify our hearts?
Our thought world is the only place
Where true forgiveness starts.
Compassion gives us all the grace
To sense what others feel
Through sharing all our storied wealth
Within life’s common meal.
As our stout castle walls fall down
We join the life of Earth
And move beyond dividing ways
To daily gift love’s mirth.
We all are interwoven parts
Of God’s great cosmic ways.
O help us care for them, O God,
With thankfulness and praise.
Alternative tune: VOX DILECTI or as six verses to St Magnus
Text and Music © William Livingstone Wallace.
Click here to see the score: Wallace.Our Hands, O God
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