A poem by Maureen Killoran

Image found on BBC

Spirit of Life and Love, I come before you
black and brown and red and yellow and alabaster,
I come longing for the simpler days that truly never were our lot.
And I am an American.

Hear these voices, as in the complexity of our days,
I am Humanist and Christian, Muslim and Jew,
Pagan and Atheist and Buddhist and UU
And I am an American.

I am one who fought for my country
and I am at the same time one who protested war
And I am an American.

Amongst the divisions of our days,
I’ve struggled in poverty
and I’ve accepted the profits of wealth
And I am an American.

I am an owner of weapons, and
I am one who would control our nation’s guns,
by limiting the who’s and what’s and how’s
And I am an American.

As light is shone on our divisions,
I live with often-unacknowledged privilege
and I am moved to rage at
the complexity of intersecting oppressions
And I am an American.

In the challenge of our days
I am one who supports my country, right or wrong,
and I am one claims the traditions of dissent
And I am an American.

In this polarized season,
I am Democrat and I am Republican,
I am Libertarian and I am Independent,
I am Green and I am confused.
And I am an American.

Spirit of hope, sit with us in our diversities.
Help us hear one another in our divisions.
Grant that, beginning in this community,
we may honor one another’s Truths,
and know that a just and faithful tomorrow
begins here, in our hearts.
For with all our problems, with all our pain,
with all our limitations and mistakes,
We are Americans.

Maureen Killoran, Developmental Minister at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Gainesville (UUFG) http://www.uufg.org/