God, grant me a clear vision to see my reality as it truly is,
To feel the wind in my hair,
The bright sun on my brown skin,
To know and feel my past and future with enduring soulfulness,
Surviving uncertainty with passion and promise.

Grant me fairness and wisdom,
To behold love not as I imagine it,
But love as it comes, imperfect and normal.
Help me to see my neighbor in all their ugliness, yet in it, find my own humanity,
A shared consequence of our mutual existence,
Ruined yet magical.

Grant me that I may see, with these eyes, the colours in the trees more clearly and attentively,
The colourful tones in the roses and bushes, the places perhaps one dares not look.
Help me to see the deep & dreadful waters of the Atlantic with a clear and renewed view,
A view of my mortality and that of my keen.
My significant insignificance in the presence of such great a marvel.

Grant me that I may look beyond the telescope and see with clarity that I am but an ant in the grand forest of life.
Grant me that I may look closely on this day, and see, that it has been afforded me to gratefully acknowledge it,
And in it find mirrors, reflecting my flawed yet acceptable existence.
Beholding this very day again and again, to find beauty, wisdom & grace.
To spend on this day, all that it requires and deserves, with no tomorrows guaranteed.

Grant me therefore wisdom and courage.

(Painting – Birth of Eve by Harmonia Rosales, 2018)