All We Can Do at the Moment

Interfaith Thanksgiving Service
Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida
November 22, 2015

The college choir,
dressed in black,
line up on Fox Hall bleacher steps.
Outside, a flock of ibis land,
white queue at rest beside a pond.
And now "Let There Be Peace on Earth"
soothes our broken hearts.

All ache as one
for the innocents
of Paris, Mali, Sinai's air.
We all honor the peacemakers,
quietly gathered there,
all faiths,
no faith,
near despair.

We now address
all the makers of peace
in our homes and
on our streets,
in nearby shelters,
on far-off shores,
in packed school halls,
on mural walls.

Let sane words echo
against the fray,
against the bloody
calls to arms.
Let us turn from arrogance.
Let the powers that be
keep us free from harm.

And let all chatter
at Thanksgiving tables
be relatively calm.