Dea Speranza
by Gino Vannelli - 2001
(translated from Italian)
from: ginovannelli.tripod.com/new/ly...za.html

Lady, Sweet Lady Hope
Where are you now
Reveal yourself
I long for the assurance
Of a bright face

Suddenly the sun
Is shorn of its beams
The mind and spirit whetted
Like instruments of war
The heart pounds swiftly
But only to summon breath
And nothing more

Beloved Lady, this is not
The handiwork of hobgoblins
Behold a new age, born of
Two flaming towers smashed
Into a smoldering pit of agony and death,
And those who sanctify such horror

Blessed Lady, in the name of
The All- knowing…the All-Loving
Tell me angels are
Without blood on their hands
Tell me there’s no truth
In what my eyes see
Tell me life is sacred
And shed your grace on me

Merciful Mother - I beseech you,
Return to us; without you we are
None but damned brutes groping
In the half-light of a lesser god
Lady, say there is no truth
In what my eyes see
Tell me life is precious
And shed your grace on me

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

With a determination to achieve the highest aim
For the benefit of all sentient beings,
Which surpasses even the wish-fulfilling gem,
May I hold them dear at all times.

Whenever I interact with someone,
May I view myself as the lowest amongst all,
And, from the very depths of my heart,
Respectfully hold others as superior.

In all my deeds may I probe into my mind,
And as soon as mental and emotional afflictions arise
As they endanger myself and others,
May I strongly confront them and avert them.

When I see beings of unpleasant character
Oppressed by strong negativity and suffering,
May I hold them dear-for they are rare to find
As if I have discovered a jewel treasure!

When others, out of jealousy,
Treat me wrongly with abuse, slander, and scorn,
May I take upon myself the defeat
And offer to others the victory.

When someone I have helped,
Or in whom I have placed great hopes,
Mistreats me in extremely hurtful ways,
May I regard him still as my precious teacher.

In brief, may I offer benefit and joy to all beings,
both directly and indirectly,
May I quietly take upon myself
The hurts and pains of all beings.

May all this remain undefiled
By the stains of the eight mundane concerns (gain and loss; pleasure and pain; praise and blame; fame and obscurity)
And may I, recognizing all things as illusion,
Devoid of clinging, be released from the bondage of attachment.

Taken from The Dalai Lama's Book of Transformation