A Prayer To Humankind

A poem of the heart
by Manitongquat

thank you, 'Rocio, with love, bradley

HEAR, O HUMANKIND, the prayer of my heart.

For are we not one, have we not one desire,
to heal our Mother Earth and bind her wounds?
And still to be free as the spotted Eagle climbing
the laughing breath of our Father Sky,
to hear again from dark forests and flashing rivers
the varied ever-changing Song of Creation?

O Humankind, are we not all brothers and sisters,
are we not the grandchildren of the Great Mystery?
Do we not all want to love and be loved, to work
and to play, to sing and dance together?
But we live with fear. Fear that is hate,
fear that is ambition, competition, aggression,
fear that is loneliness, anger, bitterness, cruelty,
fear that is mistrust. envy. greed. vanity. . . and yet
fear is only twisted love, love turned back
upon itself, devouring itself, hating itself,
love that was denied, love that was rejected . . . and love. ..

Love is life - creation, seed and leaf
and blossom and fruit and seed, love is growth
and search and reach and touch and dance,
love is nurture and succor and feed and pleasure,
love is pleasuring ourself, pleasuring each other,
love is life believing in itself.

And life. . .
Life is the Sacred Mystery singing to itself, dancing
to its drum, telling tales, improvising, playing
and we are all that Spirit, our stories all
but one cosmic story that we are loved indeed,
that perfect love we seek we are already.
That the love in me seeks the love in you,
and if our eyes could ever meet without fear,
we would recognize each other and rejoice,
for love is life believing in itself.

O Humankind, we must stop fearing life,
fearing each other, we must absolutely
stop hating ourself, resenting Creation .... Life,
O Humankind, life is the only treasure.
We are the custodians of it, it is our sacred trust.
Life is wondrous, awesome and holy, a burning glory,
and its price is simply this: courage . . .
we must be brave enough to love.

Hear my heart's prayer, O Humankind,
trust in love, don't be afraid. I love you
as I love life, I love myself, please
love me too, love yourself, for perfect love,
as a wise one said, casts out all fear.
If we are to live, there is no other choice,
for love is life believing in itself.

Above all,
let us set the children free, break the traps
of fear that history has fashioned for them,
free to grow, to seek and question, to dance and sing,
to be dreamers of tomorrow's rainbows,
and if we but give them our trust
they will guide us to a New Creation,
for love is life believing in itself.

Hear, O Humankind, the prayer of my heart.