Rachel Hadas: The Mothers on the Wall
Young men stamping; clouds of dust their feet
Stir up; the gleaming weapons and the heat –
the women, poised and fearful, gazing down
as the squadron marches out of town
Thomas Merton: Prayer
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Video: Bread and Roses | Joan Baez (lyrics included)
As we go marching, marching
We battle too for men
For they are women’s children
And we mother them again
James Wright: Trying to Pray
This time, I have left my body behind me, crying
In its dark thorns.
Sarah Gordon: Threshold
You see them there
their arms weary with
holding the guns
withholding their fire
You see them in the light
Stacy Bannerman: In 2020 Live Your Prayer
We need spiritual warriors willing to do the hard, heartbreaking work of becoming the light; capable of walking through the valley of the death of their old life and finding their way out.
Karen Friedland: A Prayer for Rough Sleepers
Someone, give us the strength
to survive this particular onslaught
of cell-death and other indignities
Iman Chahine Sharba: God of Dreams
God passed away empty handed
But with regret
And like a sly boy
Broke with his shoe
the last dry loaf of bread.
Dawn Potter: A Listener Sends Six Letters to God, in Autumn
Last night, while I was at the piano,
my landlady pounded the butt end of a rusty musket
against my chamber door.
To all appearances, she hates my sonata.
Ramsha Ashraf: We were the daughters
we were the daughters
of the witches
who could set fire to skeletons
Michael Simms: Our Father who art in flowers
Our Father who art in me
You are the One I love
The One who hurt me
The One who seeks the truth
Charles Davidson: Let all the Good Samaritans of the Earth Come Forth
Let all the Good Samaritans of the earth come forth in such numbers as to overwhelm the wickedness of the Trump administration with a love of God and neighbor so great that all manner of goodness shall prevail.
Daniel Burston: Prayer for a Dying Planet
Honestly, sometimes, I envy the dead, Those dearly departed, whose exits, however peaceful or wrenching, Were always underwritten by the knowledge that Life endures, and that Hope of Eternal Life . … Continue reading
David Huddle: Even Then I knew
for Lisa Fay Coutley Our mother was often desperate because of my brothers and me—once she threw the dish drainer at Charles, slapped the back of Bill’s head so that … Continue reading
Vox Populi 