A Prayer for the Living

 

Pray that your living be thus:

A journey fulfilled, not forgotten,

a place for the touching of souls, not Mammon,

to freely forgive, and bear no malice,

a mind at peace, never roiling in anger -

and room to grow, not retreat or wander,

with no pangs of envy for the birds as they fly,

but to drink in the indigo boom of the waves

as they crash on some deserted shoreline,

and Rings of bells to sing down the days;

to stand on a cliff-edge as the great whales play,

and grow older and smile each year good-bye,

to laugh, write verse, to sing, model clay,

paint moon-fall over silver birch woodlands,

reach distant hills where the soul finds its solace,

and solitude, and sanctuary,

and a place to be.

 

Pray let your living be thus.

 

Chris Hubbard

Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire,

England

2018.