The Smoke Has Not Cleared: A Prayer for Peace

“We will inflict blows on them that they have never dreamed of” – Benjamin Netanyahu
“Thousands of leaders and soldiers will follow in their footsteps” – Hamas
– BBC News, May 12, 2021
 
God who makes peace in heaven
Make peace for us, now, here
On Earth, because we can’t
Do it alone and we have lost
Our way, our eyes clouded
By rocket fire, our faces smeared
With belief in “You,”
You, God, who would never
Direct us to defile your name,
Your earth, your children,
You, God, who does not 
Divvy out land, who instructs us
In love, who gives visions
Of peace, God, make peace for us,
Now, because we’ve tarnished
The words you placed upon our hearts,
We’ve twisted faith
Into fighting into fire, 
We’ve wasted 
Precious life after life,
Make it end, because we can’t
Seem to stop ourselves
From one last act of retaliation,
One last war, one last argument
To win. Make peace, make peace
Here on earth, right now,
Peace for us, peace for Israel,
Peace for all people on Earth,
Lift us up, lay us down,
Hold us in our grief,
Quiet the trembling earth,
Quiet our trembling hearts,
Make peace for us right now
Because we can’t 
Do this alone, 
Because parents are grieving
And the land is ravaged
And the smoke
And the smoke has not cleared. 
 
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