(for Mary Oliver)

Not a religious man,

I try to define what prayer is –
I like your metaphors.

Prayer for you

is a green grasshopper
flying from your hand.

A pond of lilies

is a prayer heard and answered,

you say.

I watch a rabbit, hip-deep in dew

munching morning grass,
leisurely loping away.

I see red crescendo sunrise,
coloring clouds that slept

invisible all night.

Prayer is what we send of ourselves

into the world
and what comes back.

Prayer is opening

our hearts and heads
to the heavens,

when we think

of nothing
and everything at once.

10/09/2001

Posted on 10/09/2001
Copyright © 2024 Bruce W Niedt