Please forgive us our sins
For only a heart of light such as yours
Can cleanse souls so black,
Our Father in heaven
Whose holiness demands we
Bend our knees and
Bow our heads and
Still our spirit
In supplication and deference
We pray, hope, plead, beg for the day
When our world will someday look like your kingdom
But until that morning breaks, we ask you to forgive us
For failing so completely
In our obligations to each other
Breaking bones and the spirit they protect
For the glory of a blood-spattered crown
Stealing everything our covetous eyes
Can see just to raise the ante
Prostrating before false gods who promise
Endless riches but deliver less than a single piece of silver
Carving “What’s yours is mine” with the tip of a cracking whip
Into flesh daring to seek only its daily bread
Boundless arrogance
Limitless hubris
Shameless shame
Miserable with petty envy
Consumed by lustful greed
Pathetic creatures groveling
At the feet of monsters of our own making
Willing to wade through mountains of trash
For the chance of finding a kernel of approval
But worst of all, destroying the slivering light
Daring to shine faithfully from the hope for
A better day
A bigger world
A brighter sun
Because it might reveal the dark truth
Of our human nature –
That we are made in the image of our Creator
And so what are we to make of this cracked mirror
That we desperately avoid, but whose broken image beckons
Is it that you are like us?
Or us like you?
Which is worse?
A creation that revels in its own chaos
For the puerile thrill of crushing those deemed
More Than, Different Than, Better Than
Eons of false warnings assuring its demise will never come
Or a Creator who gifts the majesty and awe of the universe
But abandons its creation to the demons sleeping at its side
Cynically absolving itself, wiping its hands with Free Will
A child who mimics, mocks, or ignores its parent
Or a parent who indulges and allows such behavior
Hoping its child will learn for itself the heat of the flame
Trapped by the rising tides of narcissism
Vainly peering through webs of complicity and conspiracy
We wonder –
Where to look
What to do
Who to blame –
Until we know, then we must ask again
And again
And again
Please forgive us our sins
And we will forgive you yours
Fifty and Counting 