Good news merits new liturgy

Prayer for Our Country

In Honor of Barack Hussein Obama
completing his first full day
in the office of President

by Ilana Streit
January 22, 2009

1. I love
   the photo
   on the front page of the newspaper
   of you sitting there in the Oval Office
   on the telephone to God
   
2. May all my cells
   take in this hope
   
3. May all parents of newborns
   get an extra half-hour of sleep
   every night
   
4. May Barack Hussein Obama
   live to 120
   
5. May hope, now that we’ve
   allowed it into us,
   may it now be free
   to roam around
   on city streets in the middle
   of the night
   when so many of us are asleep
   
6. May hope, now that we’ve
   seen it on each other’s faces
   and tasted it in our tears –
   may it have little parades
   all the time
   along with each day’s rush hour traffic
   
7. May hope, now that we keep naming it,
   remain.
   May we perhaps forget
   why we refound it,
   who helped us find it
   
8. May there be
   in my lifetime
   a female president
   of the United States
   
   May she live to 120
   
9. May none of us pray to President Obama
   May all of us pray for him
   May no one prey upon him
   
10. May we continue to merit
    leaders
    the sight of whom
    makes me start to cry
    with relief