God
Have mercy
On us all
If you are there.
If not,
Let us all
Forgive each other.
Let us nonetheless do
What we would require
Of him!
There being
No other
We must live
With Consternation
Hope
And
Yearning
For what
Cannot be named
Nor confirmed
But owed
Since we are human -
Both most
And least
That consciousness
And conscience
Can bear,
Vehicle yet we breathe.

All that
We despise
And criticize
We see
We know
In ourselves
And hate
That it is so,
All we
Would be
And do.

We admire
Where some/does it
Out there
When it
Is true
And done
For there
Is a home plate
We seek
And yearn to claim.

One
And all
We seek
To balance
The brave
And glory
Of our lives
Short of brave
And plus
To Glory
In as much
Discrepancy
As possible.
Zero
Plus one
Is enough
To rout despair.
Give us that
God
If you are there.

If not
Let's all
Cooperate
Give and take
With "Justice
Tempered
With Mercy" -
For our sake.
Allow us, God
Or we ourselves,
At least
A Modicum
Of Superiority
Opposed to inferiority
On our
Own scale
Of worth.

Addie W. Williams
April 28, 1983