Peace Prayer

10th Rainbow Family Gathering of the Tribes
July 1-7, 1981, Colville Forest, Washington

“Hath Zeus no eye (who saith it?)
watching his progeny?”

—Ezra Pound

 

Lord, what a lovely
thing!
           this ring
of godly spirits gathered here
in all our human colors, hands joined
in homage to the high noon sun,
hearts joining
in a silence not of mourning
but of strength:
                         listen, Lord,
                         a prayer for peace!

And the baby whose papa
holds her high in our circle,
she voices our silent cry
until gradually— growing—
someone hums the reply

We sing skyward one huge
clear
           celestial sphere
of sound, human harmonies joined
across the meadow’s light, filled
with the warmth of human breath
but breathless,
as if immortal angels sang one deathless
everchanging note:
                               bright mantra
                               drifting

to the high source and center
where the circle broken into rainbows
in the bubble’s sheer soap skin
reflects again God’s holy
first-created pure white light—

Only in the Light will all
the nations
                   and races
ever be one people, indivisible
under God as we beneath this perfect sun,
circled in these most high mountains,
circling this sacred meadow stand to fill
this pure air
with our pure wordless prayer,
lift this round silence
                                 to perfect
                                 circular sound:

listen, nations and races,
a prayer of peace!