R. C. Nemer: A favorite poem

School Prayer
by Diane Ackerman

Thank you for the opportunity to share one of my favorite poems (I can’t name just one favorite). Many years ago I posted the following poem at my desk. It helps me to remember to deflect hate and destruction with love and compassion – towards humanity, the animal world, and the environment.

R. C. Nemer
Sunnyvale

School Prayer

In the name of the daybreak
and the eyelids of morning
and the wayfaring moon
and the night when it departs,

I swear I will not dishonor
my soul with hatred,
but offer myself humbly
as a guardian of nature,
as a healer of misery,
as a messenger of wonder,
as an architect of peace.

In the name of the sun and its mirrors
and the day that embraces it
and the cloud veils drawn over it
and the uttermost night
and the male and the female
and the plants bursting with seed
and the crowning seasons
of the firefly and the apple,

I will honor all life
—wherever and in whatever form
it may dwell—on Earth my home,
and in the mansions of the stars.

Diane Ackerman