A Prayer for Mankind

When our breaths have waned like moon phases

and our hearts are drumming slowly,

 Will our actions lay seeded in hope’s garden?

When our skin is dressed in wrinkles ridged by streaming tears’

and our bones find life’s slumber,

 Who carries the courage not buried?

When our wombs become barren trees

and the fruits of our pangs bear future’s fate,

Will they take pride in their inheritance?

When our vision remains clear

but we can no longer see,

time let’s go of our hands.

In stillness we stand and step into eternity.

 All that remains is a prayer for humankind.

Blessed be the footsteps of fearless forebears left in the sand

only to be washed away by crocodile cries disguised as healing waters.

Please guard the unguided, and shield our sheeplike souls.

Amen.