May the Grace and Peace of the Holy Spirit be With us Forever:
A Poem

May

We ask you, dear God, flower-maker, light-maker,
We ask you, would you, once again,
Grant us our prayer.

Grace

Help to do good, arm us to battle for the right.

Peace

Quiet and calm,
Stillness amidst noise, come.

Holy Spirit

O holy Spirit,
Offspring of Father's love for the Son,
Unfathomable mystery that possesses your people.

Be

Be, beyond existence, be,
Share with us your quality of being beyond our
Time and space and name and limit.

With Us

Not with me as an atom, but with all your people,
With my neighbor and the Timorese,
The Ugandans, and those of the north and south,
of the land and the island.

Forever

Not only for this time of light and flower, but
In your long nights of unsleep,
In your days whose leaden afternoons
Refuse to advance their shadows
Across the nursing home floor.

In all your measured and unmeasured time
We ask you to be with us.

---James Bolner, Sr.
Spring, 2000