A Basket of Brotherhood                             

Weave for me a basket of brotherhood.

For the frame choose a hardy bark
of inclusiveness
And within the waters of redemption
Soak long the grasses and stalks
To strip racism from their barks
To make pliable their fibers of intolerance.
From the soul of the human spirit
Web and waft a lattice-work of compassion
Fill in with justice and empathy

Border this basket of your endurance and my hopes
With a rim of unity.
And attach a strong handle to carry this basket
Through the long odyssey
Of our trials and tears
into tomorrow.

Let’s fill our basket with generous portions of wisdom
And with the joys that come with peace.

And carry this basket we shall
Through the silent days
Of mankind’s struggles
Through war torn countries
Through devastation and famine
And through the barren lands
Where naught but hate and greed
Flourish on its blood-stained soil.

Weave for me a basket of brotherhood
And we shall carry it through the days
And places of our lives

_____