The core of peace lives not in thoughts, not in deeds I do.
It lives inside my heart, in how I feel about me.
When I have learned to be at peace within myself,
then shall I radiate that peace to all.
Let me now go within to calm the inner sea.
The work has been no different since the beginning,
the thin golden thread through the chaos,
the dimly lit path through the valley,
the hand in the night:
to trust the Giver of Life in the darkness,
to trust the goodness buried in the terrible moment,
in every awful passage, every ending,
to receive the love that is given.
The test is only clearer in dark times,
to see the hollow illusion of princes
and forego their poisoned promises,
to come into this day in the name of the Holy One,
not in the thrall of our fears.