Beate Sigriddaughter

Prayer

Thank you for the miracle of flesh and bone,
of eyes, ears, lips, of splendor all around.
Give us this day our daily joy
‌          (two lizards on the trail, the tissue paper skin
‌          of an ancient woman jubilantly stopping
‌          with an encouraging smile under the blue sky
‌          to let me pass in my habitual hurry, then
‌          two books from a poet friend in the mailbox)
despite the news that rolls like bitter wind
across the land (headlines howl
‌          with blasts of unavoidable intensity)
and forgive us our huge disappointment
‌           (with bigotry, racism, misogyny, injustice)
as we forgive those who flavor our days bitter
‌           (with bigotry, racism, misogyny, injustice)
and lead us not into indifference
‌          (so much trash tossed on the path,
‌          so many places troubled with confusion)
but deliver us from numbness
‌          (we often feel so small that it is difficult
‌          to imagine how we can even make a difference,
‌          and we can, and we must)
for you are the colors and the seeds, the water
and the sun, and the breathtaking beauty and power
to give us strength and hope to do our part
in your magnificence. Thank you for the miracle.
‌          (oh, look! a young bird brave in its nest!)

Beate Sigriddaughter, www.sigriddaughter.net, grew up in Nürnberg, Germany.
Her playgrounds were a nearby castle and World War II bomb ruins. She lives in
Silver City, New Mexico (Land of Enchantment), where she was poet laureate from
2017 to 2019. Her latest collections are short stories Dona Nobis Pacem (Unsolicited
Press, December 2021) and poetry Wild Flowers (FutureCycle Press, February 2022).
In her blog Writing In A Woman’s Voice, she publishes other women’s voices.