Beloved

We pray for peace in the world.
We pray for Mars and Venus to conjoin
     in love, not war.
We pray for suicide bombers to choose
     life over heaven.
We pray for peace marchers to have love
     in their hearts, not hatred.
We pray for children to have food in their stomachs,
     not empty bellies.
We pray for money to buy drugs to treat leprosy.
We pray for those who research a cure for AIDS.
We pray for the emerald mountains of Columbia
     that the farmers who live in those green
     valleys may live there in peace.
We pray for God to save Allah and Allah to save
     Buddha and Buddha to save Shiva and Shiva
     to save the Virgin Mary, mother of us all.
We pray for the eternal soul of the anima mundi.
We pray, beloved, for spirit.
We pray the earth's prayer, that the silent ground become sacred.
We pray for surrender of all Weapons of Mass Destruction.
We pray for surrender in the arms of our beloved.
We pray for heaven on earth—now, not later.
We pray for peace, not revenge.
We pray to live in peace, because the suffering of a single child
     is not worth all the world's religions.
We pray for a full harvest, we pray for rain,
     for summer, spring and fall.
We pray for an end to nuclear weapons, biochemical weapons,
     and to all other kinds of weaponry.
We pray for the newborn baby to find comfort.
We pray, beloved, for a peaceful end to all wars.
We pray for this prayer of peace to be heard by the people
     of this earth.
We pray, beloved.
We pray to the Christians and Jews and Muslims and Hindus
     and Buddhists and Sikhs and Taoists and Confucians
     for an end to conflict.
We pray: do nothing. We pray: kill nobody.
We pray: sacrifice not even a single child in the name.
Beloved.