Dear Editor:

It seems proper to offer this prayer for our nation as Thursday, May 7 is our National Day of Prayer:

May we return to virtue's hallowed ground,

Where justice reigns and strength in grace is found.

May we reclaim the ideals, bright and true,

That built this nation bold, and can renew.

May patriotism rise, both warm and clear,

A love that holds our Constitution dear,

Yet questions how its promise may be kept,

And wakes the rights too long in shadow slept.

May we have leaders guided not by might,

But seasoned judgment seeking what is right;

With prudence formed by knowledge, time, and truth,

And ethics anchoring both age and youth.

The space for concord, for minds to meet,

Where passion bows and thoughtful tongues compete.

May we be Americans above all name,

Before the party banners stake their claim,

May civil bonds be forged across divides

Of faith and creed and philosophical tides.

May civic order rise from fractured ground,

And common regard for neighbors be found,

May leaders rise with wisdom, tried and sure,

Whose prudence, forged through trials they endure,

Seeks justice long, and governs with the weight

Of fairness earned and ethics resolute and straight.

May we seek pardon for the faith we broke,

The trust of allies lost beneath our yoke,

For peace and safety rest on bonds we keep,

And law's firm promise, solemn, wide, and deep.

May we seek mercy for the crimes our hands

Have wrought in war on far and bloodied lands,

And for the bruised, the refuge-seeking soul

Turned back from shores that should have made them whole.

So let us pray for virtue to be restored,

For reason, justice, unity, accord,

For humble leaders, wise and fair and true,

And bonds of grace that hold this nation through.

May we forgive, be forgiven, and begin

To heal the wounds without and the within,

To be the country, flawed yet reaching still,

That bends toward justice by a common will.

Fred W. Nehring

Boothbay