Petition

And I standing in the shade

Have seen it a thousand times

Happen: first theft, then murder;

Rape; the rueful acts

Of the blind hand. I have said

New prayers, or said the old

In a new way. Seeking the poem

In the pain, I have learned

Silence is best, paying for it

With my conscience. I am eyes

Merely, witnessing virtue's

Defeat; seeing the young born

Fair, knowing the cancer

Awaits them. One thing I have asked

Of the disposer of the issues

Of life: that truth should defer

To beauty. It was not granted.