"a prayer for greater rains and smaller floods"

a prayer for greater rains and smaller floods


oh Lord of great waters
mighty King
riding mounted on many storms
You who consumed swirling chaos
who thunders like a river freed

loose this day your cascade
justice and mercy, molten and alive
healing pouring down from heavy clouds

grant peace oh Lord
to the worms on the pavement
the crushed petunias
and the picnics
give them rest in Your light

grant peace to my soul, Lord
in the hiss of traffic through rain
the beat of water on window
fresh wet asphalt smell through an open door

remember to us, oh Lord of the deluge
Your terrible flood
Your wonderful destruction
remember to us, oh Lord
Your cleansing fires to come
in these
Your great rains and small floods

Mairi Graham-Shaw
© 2014


Image links to its source on Wiki Commons.
William Blake: "The Lord Answering Job Out of the Whirlwind," from the Butts set. Pen and black ink, gray wash, and watercolour, over traces of graphite. 1805
Public domain