poem

 Prayer

Prayer is a child yelling for mom

In the middle of the night

To whisper the nightmares away.

Prayer is calling old dad

When your world falls apart

And there’s nowhere left to turn

But nightmares haunt

Once they sink their claws,

Even for a man in his own home.

And dad can only listen

While he does that weird Valsalva grunt.

Instead of finding the words to say.

But it’s good to kneel and pray.

To imagine your parents

Happy again, somewhere, far far away.

1/17/21