Prayers: A Poem

Prayers feel like sand tossed in the wind

No matter how hard you throw them

They disperse and return

Bringing tears to your eyes

…

I am writing a letter to no address

Not sure where to send it

Or if I wrote it correct

I await a response and stand by the box

…

No letters from Heaven are ever returned

And my messenger angel must have been intercepted

The letters are burned

I hope the smoke sends a signal

…

It’s hard to believe you can live in this world

Yet send words to another dimension

Another reality outside of eternity

It takes a faith I don’t believe I possess

…

The Word says it simple like talking out loud

Yet deeply complex

Unattainable, unable to understand

We can make it a practice but it’s only babbling

…

No, I don’t pray so I can be heard

I’d be deeply disappointed, unheard, and unsure

I pray because I don’t understand how he is attentive to sinners

A king surrounded by peasants and zealots and drunkards

…

I pray because He tells me to

And that’s all I need

Another step into the shadows called his mystery

It’s not in the words but the heart of the matter

…

I can’t wait for a response for he speaks out of time

I step as he lights one foot at a time

I speak though he knows what I need before I say it

Because my desires are hidden in the language of me

…

My soul prays in the silent unspoken groaning

My work and my art and my daily behavior

My prayers are a riff or some hum of a melody

My heart prays when my words betray me

…

The spirit prays in the place of my errors

The Son intercedes on my behalf every hour

I don’t have to worry about my list of demands

Now when I pray

I pray for sisters and brothers