I Pray for You

©2009 by Alice Walker

I pray
For you
To love
The precious
Body
This
Lifetime
Has
Given
You
As I love it.

In youth
Every speeding
Motorcycle
Beckoned
To turn
Itself
Over
On
You:

Knives
Held
By
Goons
Found
Their way
Into
Your
Blameless
Flesh:

Somehow
You broke
Both
Your shoulders
&
Many
Helpful
Bones
In legs
&
Feet.

I can hardly
Bear
To touch
The scarred
Ridges
Under the
Sweet
Hair
On
Your
So
Frequently
Battered
Head;
You
Have
Crashed
Into
Life
Repeatedly,
Thinking
Perhaps
You
Are
A
Bull.

O
Holy One
So
Filled
With
Compassion
For even
The tiniest
Fly
Why must
It be
That
Dismissing
Endless roses
Saluting
Us
In this world
If there
Is
Anywhere
A 
Thorn
You
Will
Walk
Into
It?