A Prayer with the People of East Africa

Open our eyes God,
Eyes tempted
To turn away
From the sight of starvation.
Enable us to see
Distressed neighbors created in your image
With once-rounded faces now distorted by want.

Open our ears to the sound of rail-thin crying babies
And the deafening silence of those
Whose hollow eyes betray
A soul
On the edge of giving up.

Use our hands, God,
To reach out across the miles
Full hands
Hands of mercy
Weeping hands.