I weave a silence on my lips.
I weave a silence into my mind.
I weave a silence within my heart.
I close my ears to distractions.
I close my eyes to attractions.
I close my heart to temptations.
Calm me as You stilled the storm.
Still me, keep me from harm.
Let all tumult within me cease.
Enfold me in Your peace.
Our human compassion binds us the one to the other
– not in pity or
patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common
suffering into hope for the future.
~ Nelson Mandela in a Message at Healing & Reconciliation Service, December, 2000
