"Give Us This Day"(for Dr. John Swomley)
May I not plan formore than todaySo if this day bemy lastI might say; oh, too bad,I shall miss supper.For why should I considerthy eternity?I cannot comprehend it,and today is the dayof salvation.Yet I shall plan for todayquite wellSo that faith may be wellexpressed in livingAs though my task mightbe complete;And your peace be sweet.The task is yours and mineOurs and ThineTogether is a word of peace.And what should I sayexcept "Give us this day"That the work of your crossnever cease.1978 / cs
"The Prayer of Boomerica"
O' Lord What have we done to deserve the unthinkable punishment of spilling our children's blood in a foreign land? O' God How have we offended Thee? When have we failed to serve Thee? Have we not been generous to the poor? Have we not been gracious to our neighbors? Have we not visited the prisoners in their distress? Have we not suffered this before? Why must we suffer again then The sacrifice of innocents And why must "our" innocents Bring the responsibility of the slaughter Of "their" innocents upon our heads? Why must our generation be at war? Did not our fathers and mothers also know war? Is this not now for us the war of our youth And the war of our parenthood? Do we not have a belly full of war? Help us to "learn war no more!" cb / 2004
"sixty-eight"
I can't say I understand what happened in sixty-eight. I woke up late and shared a confession about laughing in all the wrong places.
I had a band that happened in sixty-eight. I played till late and did more than one session with people who felt like me.
But how do we feel now? And when will we start waking up in time to be free for good!
We made a lot of love in sixty-eight. We challenged the hate and assumed the position for youall who knew us best to be in hell for the rest.
But what about the test of eighty-eight and twenty 0 eight and who's the decision for or who do We leave sixty-eight to?
The work of a generation was begun in sixty-eight. We started a song and embraced a lesson about lifeing in all the socalled wrong places.
But don't judge a song as yet unsung! For sixty-eight was only a beginning And fate is only an aginning for those who will sing and dance to the hope from sixty-eight.
Dear David,I know your time is limited so I will be brief. Barack Obama is a phenomenon of our time and a face of the hope for hope and the passing of power to a new generation. Here's the rub. Your campaign is a movement and very personally driven and taken personally by those of us who are supporters. And, frankly, Barack's credibility is thin because he is so new as a presidential hopeful. Therefore, his ability to raise money from me and others like me is based almost entirely upon his believability and when and how he is true to his words. When he reversed himself on public financing of his campaign he lost credibility. His vote on FISA is also a concern to me. Unaccountable presidents are unacceptable to me no matter what party they represent. I feel he and you have underestimated the issue of credibility and believability to your cause and ours. I know your plan and campaign will suffer without the extraordinary and unprecedented funding you have now bet your campaign upon but Barak and you will have to convince me that Barack Obama is trustworthy in order to get my financial support. You may as well know that I've never supported a candidate before Barack Obama and it's possible that I may again. But emails telling me about McCain's fundraising success certainly won't make a difference unless I trust Barack Obama. We'll see. Peace, Carlos Summers
