A Prayer for Peace
In a Time of Mourning

by Mark Dunlea

Dear Lord
We pray for you
To Show us the way
To Peace
For we are lost
In a wilderness
Of despair and destruction
As bombs rain down
Upon those we claim to save
For Democracy
For oil and power

Oh Lord
We are told
That we have Lost Faith
And we are ashamed
For we have championed war
When we profess to believe in peace
Let us take back
The courage of our convictions
Let us remember
Our Love
For the children
For our mother earth

We are in mourning
For evil walks Brazenly in our midst
And we fight those
Who also pray in the name of Yahweh
For we are afraid
For Death has visited us
So we demand a terrible vengeance
As if this will heal our soul

Give us the Strength
To seek truth
About why so many are killed
In your name
Give us light to throw off the darkness
That weakens us, confuses us
Help us find compassion
And tolerance
For our fellow beings
To find mercy
And enlightenment
To build a world
Not based on greed and domination
But on the values
Of peace and justice

Open up our hearts Oh Lord
And heal them
Make them stronger and wiser
So we can receive the teachings
Of Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha
Of Gaia and the Old Prophets
Let us find forgiveness
Let us start out again
On the path to peace
For there is no way to peace
Peace is the way.

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Mark Dunlea is the author of Madame President: The Unauthorized Biography of the First Green Pary President (nys.greens.org/rachel)