Lord Help Us

Dear Lord, you know me inside out,
and love me — warts and all.
You’re always there to comfort me
and catch me when I fall.

I worship you with all I have,
but sometimes, just the same,
it’s hard to comprehend some acts
committed in your name.

For where is love reflected
in a history that tells
how radical Crusaders slaughtered
countless “infidels”?

Such hatred, even to this day,
is hard to understand,
as churches preach less tolerance
than shown at Disneyland.

Oh please, before I close my fist
to cast a hurtful stone,
impress upon my foolish heart
that judgment’s yours alone.

Protect me from your followers,
the holier-than-thous
who claim the inside track on knowing
what “God’s Will” allows,

As each of us alone must answer
for the things we do
that cause another soul to stumble
on the path to You.

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1997 Mary Boren
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Malevolence Concealed

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Malevolence concealed in shadow waits
for optimal excuse to storm the gates
when every guardian of night has fled
and left no vestige of the light they shed
across the peaceful courtyard love creates.

A solitary candle flame abates
the siege as amity illuminates
the calculating coward that propels
malevolence concealed.

No other coalescence separates
abiding love from hate that cultivates
chaotic storms within the citadels
like unity of purpose that expels
unwanted dispositions and negates
malevolence concealed.

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Mary Boren, 2018
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We the People

internet-noise

Pompous politicians yammer,
pundits propagate the threat.
Trolls and bloggers join the clamor
spread across the Internet.

News reports reflect an image
of a nation on the brink,
polarized and poised to scrimmage.
People, stop. Be still and think.

Some are healthier than others,
some are wracked by pain or greed.
All are born of human mothers,
longing for the peace we need.

Can’t we learn to share the planet,
set aside the plots and ploys?
Stifle fearful hate—don’t fan it—
filter out the surface noise.

We the People, friends and neighbors,
sisters, brothers, husbands, wives,
quietly attend our labors
leading ordinary lives.

Bonded by conciliation,
we can raise a voice that’s strong,
blessed beyond imagination,
if we simply get along.

———

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2012 Mary Boren
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Voices Clamor

Voices clamor for an ear
open to the faintest note of
pessimism, doubt or fear
harboring a secret motive
poised to drive the spirit down.
Hope’s the nail and hate’s the hammer.
Songs of love alone will drown
voices’ clamor.

———

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2012 Mary Boren
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