Songs of Grief

“By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.” (Psalm 137:1 NIV)

Around 586 BC, the Jewish people were taken captive by the Persian Empire. Many of the exiles were deported to the valley near the Tigris and Euphrates. By these rivers of Babylon, they sat and wept as they remembered how things used to be back home. 

When I was a child, I used to sing a song with similar lyrics to Psalm 137. It was a popular song by a German band named Boney M. Back then, I was too young to appreciate or understand the lyrics. I didn’t know that the same words were sung by Jewish people in exile, Rastafarians in Jamaica, and countless others who lived under oppression and injustice. 

It took me a few decades of living to understand the depth of sorrow in these verses. Now I know the pain of disappointment. I have experienced loss. I have sat by the rivers of sadness and helplessness, weeping over shattered illusions. In times of depression, I have learned to go search the Psalms. Here I find verses of praise as well as lamentation.  Both are necessary at different times. Songs of grief allow expression of all the awful emotions churning within me. Even in powerlessness, these lyrics give voice to my suffering, catharsis in anguish, and solidarity in oppression.