Beulah Land Is So Far Away

 As I was ruminating over a Negro Spiritual we sang in church on Sunday, this piece came together in me.

Beulah Land Is So Far Away

Beulah Land seems so far away -
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!

They dress so fine for Sunday mass -
But then when the Lord's day done pass'd
They change into their robes of white
To offer evening sacrifice.

Beulah Land seems so far away -
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!

Their long robes gleam in the full moon light
A grim beacon in a dark southern night.
The dogs unleashed sniff well for their prey:
A man, a woman, a child along their way.

Beulah Land seems so far away -
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!

"At last," they cry, "the ritual shall begin!"
The altar, a tree, in the woods now grown dim.
A running of feet to hail the oblation
As he's beaten and bludgeoned in gross humiliation.

Beulah Land seems so far away -
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!

The altar is dressed with a rough twine rope.
The dark man's mind clings to Beulah's hope.
This night I will see her, I will be set free
He mused as they raised him up on the tree.

Beulah Land seems so far away -
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!

Blood-thirsty men hoveled in the cool midnight air;
The dark man screamed as they castrated him there.
The cheering so loud muffled his cries--
The noose tightened quickly; blood ran down his thighs.

Beulah Land seems so far away -
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!

Another black body offered to the god of hate,
Of murder and lust, of torture and rape.
They danced, drank, gathered the souvenirs
Of a Sunday service to be enjoyed for years.

Beulah Land seems so far away -
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!

Sunday now Monday: they scramble to their houses.
To wash off the blood and make love to their spouses.
While Negroes mourned and wailed all the night
O'er what was considedered the white man's right.

Beulah Land seems so far away -
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!
Oh, how I wish we could see her today!

"Lord make a way north to escape this great horror,
For only You know what they might do tomorrow.
If Beulah land ain't our bulwark this hour,
Then, please Lord, give us the strength and power
To live outside Beulah's high pearly gates
And e'er get close to the peace that awaits."

O Lord, Beulah seems so far away
But I believe, I trust to see her one day.
I believe and I trust to see her one day.