;
GODS AND ANGELS
Protect us from the pitfalls of our lives
and bless these mashed potatoes as we eat,
but help us not to cheat on our wives.
Forgive us for our disrespectful thoughts
but help us as we conquer our foes,
and let us not be arrogant to those
who take delight in other people’s faults.
No Noah’s flood or starlight from the east
can match the marvel found in humankind.
To conjure up such fables in our mind,
how stunning we must be to brute and beast-
examining a vacant sky above us
and seeing gods and angels there that love us.