May the Blessing of God, bright like the light when the morning dawns and gracious as the dew when the evening comes, be granted you ... to abide with you today and tomorrow and throughout God's vast Beyond. George W. Truett

A RITUAL TO READ TO EACH OTHER

William Stafford

If you don't know the kind of person I am

and I don't know the kind of person you are

a pattern that others made may prevail in the world

and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,

a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break

sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood

storming out to play through the broken dike.

And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail,

but if one wanders the circus won't find the park,

I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty

to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,

a remote important region in all who talk"

though we could fool each other, we should consider -

lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

For it is important that awake people be awake,

or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;

the signals we give - yes or no, or maybe -

should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

When you were born

you cried

and the world

rejoiced.

Live your life so

that when you die

the world cries

and you rejoice.

To love a person

is to learn

the song

that is in their heart

and

to sing it

to them

when they have forgotten.