Sunday, May 1, 2016

Daniel Berrigan, R.I.P.

"The Trouble With Our State" poems by Daniel Berrigan


Peace Prayer Protest


He was the priest-poet of peace,
Daniel Berrigan was, a saintly soul
Along with his brothers Philip and Jerry
And assorted fellow religious peaceniks
Who went to jail for their beliefs,
Doing Plowshares protests of war machines.

Daniel prayed to stop deliberate destruction.
Did God ever stop and listen?
Daniel protested war and bad faith in pretenses of peace.
Did God hurl thunderbolts? Flood battlefields?
Daniel Berrigan prayed, protested, hurled poetry
At the worshipers of war.
Did God receive him into heavenly peace?


--Jan Barry