Poem June 12, 2007

How many Guernicas?

Tony Lobl

Originally appeared on spirituality.com

How many GuernicasThe April 26, 1937, bombing of the Spanish city Guernica by German aircraft during the Spanish Civil War—depicted in a celebrated painting by Pablo Picasso—caused widespread destruction and resulted in well over a thousand civilian deaths. The event and its aftermath became known as a symbol of human suffering. has a meek prayer prevented?
How many Rwandas has prayer successfully resisted?
Was some copycat Auschwitz never constructed,
Because some “poor wise man” prayerfully insisted,
That evil cannot boast itself above good?

Have other Watergates been ingeniously thwarted?
Have other Enrons been assiduously averted?
Did some pending apartheid fade out unsupported,
Because a listening heart—quietly alerted—knew
That evil cannot boast itself above good?

Have deafening war drums precipitously faded?
Have pandemic forebodings proved overstated?
Has a natural disaster’s threat been abated,
By a childlike glimpse that God can’t be negated—
That evil cannot boast itself above good?

Flying under the radar of heart-wrenching headlines
Humble hearts are writing news without bylines.
A history of victories unreported on prime time
Urges a surge of prayers on the spiritual frontline:
That evil cannot boast itself above good!