Prayer For The Young And The Old

It is our current inclination to despair:

  For the young

  It is maddening to be left with a future

  Of environmental degradation 

  And fascist cults.  

  And for the old

  It is grievous to see lifelong struggles 

  Take too many backwards steps

  From what were happy endings.

It is our current obligation to hope:

  For the young

  It is exciting to plan the fights ahead,

  The anger and the camaraderie 

  And the eventual celebrations. 

  And for the old 

  It is amusing how life comes in waves—

  Inevitably the bad guys will go too far

  And they will fall, some day. We know this. 

Blessed Holy Wholeness:

  It is true,

  Kingdoms are overturned,

  Temples are destroyed. 

  Church overwhelms State,

  Fear tramples freedom. 

  Rights are won then lost,

  There is oppression. 

  There will be more pain. 

  

So go ahead, 

Give up on dreams. 

Or,

Young and old,

Don’t. 

Amen

The Empty Chair

(Inspired by a painting by Mike Cockrill)

Look at this painting 

Of a simple chair,

The only object in a vast open space. 

The watercolor, 

Serene and soothing,

Shows an amber-colored director's chair

Surrounded by summer light. 

And it is something to hang

In your home,

Something to look at every day. 

It is beautiful. 

But this week we notice that

The chair is empty. 

And we are reminded of what we don’t have. 

Poor innocent chair,

Minding its own business

As we think of recent deaths

And anticipated losses,

Of sabotaged goodness

And sure things made uncertain. 

Look, the chair is alone,

In mourning. Like us. 

But look again and breathe. 

One mustn’t forget that, surrounded by light,

Any empty seat anticipates a sitter.