Hope: a summer meditation

By Helen Watson White in Prayers

a meditation on the stress in peoples lives

Hope: A summer meditation
They long for rain -- the farmers who sowed and planted,
the animals cropping short, frizzled grass,
the fields, the rural streams all wait for rain

as those who've lived through earthquakes long for the peace they knew before,
wait -- not always patiently --
for an end to the shaking
the calm of a quiet night
the warmth of healing after pain

But it doesn't always come --
there are not always many more
to follow the first few tentative drops of rain
on the roof
on the path

And the peace we long for --
an end to the violence
the beginning of respite, of care:
they remain in the air
suspended like water in clouds
in passing clouds

Perhaps it will rain tomorrow --
It will certainly rain, perhaps sooner not later
The children of summer, the holiday children will laugh it off,
splashing in puddles,
making water-works in sand
They will, we hope, go home to a decent meal,
a cuddle at bed-time -- or any time --
and news that a letter has come,
offering someone a job to start in the New Year

Perhaps one day there'll be different things on the television news,
and the family won't make their own soundtrack of argument
to images of war -- bodies lying in blood --
Perhaps peace will fall like rain
on home front and far battlefield
Next year
Next year in Jerusalem