With so much having already been said — on all sides — about tomorrow’s election, I am taking my cue for this column from the Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama. Also a theologian and mediator, Ó Tuama will lead a poetry workshop for students at Duke and also join me for a public conversation on “Poetry, Prayer, and Public Healing” on November 19. Ó Tuama’s writing, workshops, and popular podcast “Poetry Unbound” weave together poetry, prayer, etymology and personal testimony to point to truths about ourselves, our relationships and the mystery of God. One example is an Irish proverb he cites in his memoir: “It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.”
With Ó Tuama’s example in mind, this column is my own prayerful poem — or maybe poetic prayer — for embracing a civic vision of sheltering one another.
Tomorrow is upon us. E-Day. Election Day.
Great day? Maybe. For some.
A day, nonetheless,
that will say something.
Speak volumes, words, wishes, hopes, dreams,
nightmares for supposed losers.
Yet
Tomorrow, there are no real winners.
If we all don’t win, none of us win.
A party candidate receives the most votes
But that is not a real win.
That does not make the land free
and the home brave.
A real win is for all people,
an election for a wide human collection.
Tongues, tribes, territories,
nations, names, neighborhoods
hues, heights, hair textures,
sights, sounds, sizes.
No real winners, if we all don’t win.
But
We will win when we vote for our common humanity
rather than fuel flames of inhumanity.
We will win when we don’t think we are so divine
that we can act inhumane.
There are no real winners unless we work together.
No real winners if people become pawns and projects to possess,
Rather than precious revered ones.
Help us, O God, to truly win tomorrow —
to score a win for humanity.
Help us to run the race and win it —
A human one.
A human win, not a hate whirlwind.
A human win, where all can thrive more than just survive.
A human win, when we respect the dignity of others.
A human win, when we love, even our enemies.
A human win, where peace flows like a river in our souls and at the polls.
A human win, “with liberty and justice for all.”
A human win, where joy is unspeakable, and the glory is God’s.
A human win, with shared bread and wine, at comfort food tables spread divine.
A human win is a win for all.
More than issues,
But with shared shoes
To walk together and not get weary,
Into a promised land of “we”
Not an island of “me.”
Tomorrow is upon us. E-Day.
A great day for all humanity? I pray.
The Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery is Dean of Duke University Chapel. His column runs on alternate Mondays.
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