Love All

July 20, 2011

"Love all, no exceptions", said the voice,

Not as command but speaking to my soul.

Clearly it spoke, I heard and shall obey,

See the faults of others as my faults,

Meet hostility and violence with calm,

Returning love in every circumstance

And realize that I must grow within,

Myself to change who cannot change the world

By outward means, but gaining peace within

Amid the despoliation and deceit

Of forces inimical to life and love.

The daily prayer must be of offering,

Surrender to the One ingeniously

Hidden in the seed and in the stone,

To dedicate the self, this breathing clay,

Past, present and future give to him

And all our lives to come songs of praise.