Thoughts and Prayers | A Poem by Julie Clark

Dozens of prayer candles lit up- Thoughts and Prayers
Prayer Candles Sacre Coeur, Paris, France, Photo Credit : Georgia Sanders

With the surge in mass shootings and other forms of violence that have left families and communities broken hearted and grieving this poem is offered….

*****

No thank you

If you mean

That you are off the hook

For doing anything good

To stop this violence

No thank you

If you mean

You can let another

Year go by without

Courageously

Tackling this issue

Of gun violence

No thank you 

Unless you mean

The kind of prayer

Where you think and dream

With the Divine

A new path forward

Where you roll up your sleeves

And get to work

To put that new plan

Into effect

No thank you

Unless you mean the kind of prayer

That looks first into your own heart

To see if you are complicit

In anyway to this violence

By turning your back

On those who are grieving

Their loved ones gunned

Down before their time

No thank you

Unless you mean the kind of prayer

Where you call out to God

For mercy and forgiveness

And commit yourself

To work, to change

To make this world

A safe place for everyone

To live

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