A beautiful prayer
A Beautiful Prayer is the most famous poem by the poet Joanne Gobure from Nauru .
text
The text consists of eight stanzas, all of which are introduced with the same phrase: “I asked God to ...” (I asked God to give me ...). These inquiries revolve around your own habits, a disabled child, patience, joy, pain, spiritual growth and joy in life. All these inquiries are denied by God and only the last request that God may give love is affirmed as a punch line by God with a humorous affirmation: "God said ... Ahhhh, finally you have the idea." (God said: finally you have understood ).
Structure and background
The poem shows the influence of Christian, biblical theology and is determined by a great maturity. Influences from the Gospel according to John Joh 15 EU and the Epistle of Paul to the Romans Rom 8 EU as well as difficult life experiences are combined. An inner dialogue with God, a prayer, is retold. The eight stanzas of the poem each consist of 4 verses, with the last stanza only having 3 verses. In each case one request to God is rejected and relativized by him.
subjects
disability
In the second stanza, the probably biographical experience with a disabled child comes up. The challenge that such a thing poses for parents is placed in the foreground. God's answer draws attention to an appreciation of the child, not because of his or her handicap, but because of his God-given soul:
"I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.
His spirit is whole, his body is only temporary. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ hincklecreekfriends.blogspot.com : Full text.