Monday, August 31, 2009

Poem: Morning Prayers


Morning Prayers

Each morning, early, as you lay in bed,
prayers fill your mind, prayers
first of gratitude, then supplication
less for yourself than others,
for the lights in your life
past and present,

for those struggling
and those with hope
and those who are more history
than a presence in your life, those
who are part of your hopes,
and most of all, those
who have no hope.

And so you pray,
then pry yourself up to face the day.

They rarely know who they are,
those you pray for each dawn,
and yet, God is listening,
and like you, cares for the lights
he loves, and from the far away
that is not distance of miles,
but distance we place between us,
he reaches down
and coddles us in his Michelangelo arms
and leads us, somehow
out of our darkness
despite ourselves.

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The picture was taken in the chapel in Wishford Major, in England not far from Stonehenge. You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom

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3 comments:

Shadow said...

we are fortunate to get that gentle nudge into the light...

Unknown said...

Hi Tom,

Knowing that we may be in someone's prayers would be a great help, I'm sure.

"and coddles us in his Michelangelo arms"

is a great phrase.

gingerhillery@mac.com said...

Lovely poem. Wouldn't it be cool to see the pathway all those invisible prayers took every morning, every evening? Invisible, spiritual connectedness, even with people we hardly know.

i too love the phrase about being coddled in Michelangelo arms.