Poem: Prayer (Lord Have Mercy)

Lord have mercy.
Lord have mercy on us.

Lord have mercy
On those whose pain,
On those whose fear,
Has supplanted
Any sense of self,
Who are acting out

Instead of in,
Who are ever on alert
For the presence of sin.

Lord in your benevolence
Please bestow a map
Upon those who are so low
They don’t see
Anywhere to turn
Or anywhere to go.

You yourself were
In those shoes.
Don’t deny it!
You yourself were
Present at the
Creation of the blues.

Do you not care for
How the common men
Find themselves
In a double bind? How
If they turn this way
They are turned
Away from that?

Lord I know you
Know not what
A sleepless night
Feels like. Okay. But
I do know that
You know what it
Feels like to be alone.
Alone.

And so it is that
The least of us
Have been abandoned
By those who want
For nothing,
Those like me, yes
Like me, who
Have known the grace
That surpasseth
All understanding.

Did I really think it

Was me behind the wheel?

Blessed Lord please
Show the way to those
Who are so low they
Don’t know where to turn
Or even where to go.

There must be a place
Where everybody belongs.
We would not
Have come here if
That were not so.

Lord have mercy.
Lord have mercy on us all.

Composed upon the occasion of listening to

Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963

M. Bogen

South Beach

February 2026