A Prayer
poems
- In the riptide
- of
- this moment
- may I act out of goodwill,
- may I rediscover
- the goodness of others
- made obfuscate
- by timelines and party lines
- and tighten the loosened thread
- that ties us all
- together.
- The gift is knowing
- what ails you
- the privilege is holding that truth
- without turning away–
- what I fear most is not that you will hurt me
- because in many ways you already have
- but that I may never understand why
- What I fear
- most is not that my side is losing
- but that we
- are lost.
- May I summon the courage to speak
- not out of hate or righteousness
- not out of the pain I’ve held for so long
- both for myself and for others,
- but with the soft palpitations of a heart
- in search of redemption,
- with the hushed voice of a nation
- dying for reconciliation.
- May our differences
- sharpen our similarities.
- May I be bold enough
- to witness your suffering
- and subsequently illuminate
- the shape of my own.
- May we surf the edges with evermore grace
- so that we can rise above the inevitable tide,
- swim ashore and dance
- to the drumming of a fragile anthem
- celebrating
- the birth of a nation.