POEM: Prayer for the 21st Century (non-religious)

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eddies grrl
eddies grrl Posts: 509
edited December 2003 in Poetry, Prose, Music & Art
A Prayer for the 21st Century (edited)

May the road be free for the journey
May it lead where it promised it would
May the stars that gave ancient bearings
Be seen, still be understood

May gardens be wild like jungles
May nature never be tamed
May dangers make of us heroes
May fears always have names

May the mountains stand to remind us
Of what it means to be young
May we be outlived by our daughters
May we be outlived by our sons

May every aircraft fly safely
May every traveler be found
May sailors in crossing the ocean
Not hear the cries of the drowned

May the knife remain in the holder
May the bullet stay in the gun
May those who live in the shadows
Be seen by those in the sun




This poem is by John Marsden, and I found it in children's a picture book. I really love it, and I think it is very timely. It usually makes me cry! Especially the lines about being outlived by our children, and the one about those living in the shadows. Pretty powerful stuff.
Life is the riddle
Of which we're caught in the middle.
A couple of lucky ones
Tangled up in too much love
~cowboy junkies
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Being Enlightened
    Being Enlightened Posts: 5,746
    A very sweet poem indeed! I particularily like the last stanza, myself. Thanks for sharing! :)
    Forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in. - Leonard Cohen
  • Sound
    Sound Posts: 579
    May the mountains stand to remind us
    Of what it means to be young


    May those who live in the shadows
    Be seen by those in the sun


    i loved this two
    It was a dream, not a nightmare. A beautiful dream I could never imagined in a thousand nods. I saw this girl next to me, she wasn't beautiful until she smiled. And I felt that smile come at me in heat waves following. Soaking through my body and out my finger tips in shafts of color. And I knew somewhere in the world, somewhere, that there was love for me.

    Jim Carrol

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