A Prayer for Libya's People

O God,
what started as a deep dispute about how the world
ought spin
has now
descended
into blood-letting bitterness
with brothers and sisters
cousins and uncles
standing on opposite sides of a dream.

Can siblings eventually sup at the same table
as long as the memory of this death and screaming may be summoned?

God,
be with all who suffer in Libya on this day
be with children and nurslings
who will never understand
why
the world that once spun in predictable ways
now alternates
between shudders and centrifuge speed
threatening
to spin out of control for a lifetime.

God, have mercy!