Tell me how not to be pliant like a willow
When winds of deceit and subterfuge blow?

To stand correct and straight amidst
Overwhelming corruption and hate?

Tell me how to fight war and strife
With a white glove and no knife?

To cry a little more now and then
On seeing killing, riots and mayhem?

Tell me how to tolerate and bear
The mindless destruction of Life everywhere?

How to feel a wrenching pain
As hunters shoot down for profit and gain?

Tell me how not to turn my face away
From gnawing poverty and hunger every day?

Tell me how to experience the same
Of those tortured and maimed?

Tell me how to be a lotus in the lagoon
Despite muddy waters, in full bloom?

Tell me how to revere and hold sublime
All Life in its variety Divine?

Tell me how, O Sage, to pray,
Bringing Compassion, Awareness and Oneness
Into our lives each day?

Feb 15th 2011
Written after the riots and chaos in Egypt, January 2011 and the multitude of scams breaking out in India.
Yet it seems perennially valid ….