A Prayer for Healing

after the January 6, 2021 riots

The nightmare is over. I am awake.
The tingling of unease continues
to reverberate under the skin,
the memory of dread, the waves
of terror will claim my nerves
for a long time to come. I offer
my frail commiseration to my beloved
country and my strong commitment
to keep searching for ways of truly
honoring each other in this fragile,
shaken world until we heal from all
this division. It should be so easy
to live this paradise in peace. It isn’t.
Oh, I can easily honor and respect
people of color, of gender rainbows,
of different religions. But when
it comes to honoring those in mansions
where they continue to dream of more
possessions, more ways of proving
to God and the world how important
they are, and when it comes to respect
for those in trailers dreaming to win
the lottery and basking snootily in white
supremacy, something in me recoils.
And yet, I too, have dreamt of more
possessions and of winning the lottery
one day. And so I pray for healing
for our wounded souls, for decency,
and for honoring each other in the face
of the ugly demon of hope that some
of us are still better than others.

Beate Sigriddaughter, www.sigriddaughter.net, lives in Silver City, New Mexico, where she was poet laureate from 2017 - 2019. Her poetry and prose are widely published in literary magazines, including online. Unsolicited Press published her poetry collection Emily in 2020. She posts other women's work on her blog Writing In A Woman's Voice. Read other articles by Beate, or visit Beate's website.