When It Is Time To Pray (#3)

When it is time to pray
(and it is time to pray
for peace
for peace
it is indeed time to pray)
I want to be
with you

entering the soul realm
stepping with each foot
onto the carpet
of fine, woven silk
the altar of devotion

Mother, Great Mother
we will call

Devi, Lakshmi
O Dark One
who does not flinch
in shadows,
no, she is both shadow and sun

Mother, Divine One
we will call together
plaintive and pleading
in supplication
in prostration
kneeling on the sacred ground
of our dreams

have mercy
stop the killing
we are tired, so tired
hungry and afraid

the Goddess
will be silent

there will be a pause
in time and space

And then we – you and I –
will stop grating the soil
with our torn hands
we will cease the ripping,
tearing of our hair
our grief will slacken

And the knowledge of
the breath will return

rising as One
you will breathe a
potent breath IN
and I will breathe
an ecstatic breath OUT

We will call PEACE
forth into our bodies
and OM will rumble
into sudden song

Om Shanti Shanti
Mother fill us
Mother fill us
fill us full
with this LOVE.

— Ana Holub, Mount Shasta, California, USA


I, Ana Holub, give permission to The Peace Poem Project to use my poem to promote peace. 3/3/09