The river of need is overflowing -
The banks of entreaty cannot hold it.
It’s lapping at the very doorsteps
Of everything our hearts hold dear,
Devastating all our efforts to contain it.

The levees we built with fervent prayer
Are weakening and will soon be washed away
Letting floods of anguish and despair
Submerge the truest things we value
In a deluge we cannot possibly survive.
ljm