The Poison Pie Publishing House presents:

March 15, 2018

A Prayer for Ending at the Beginning

O Lord, I don't know how You do it,
knowing beforehand the end of all things.
We find solace only in seeking to remain
as ignorant as possible of what will come.

Forgive us. Although we have been
adequately forewarned that it is futile
to attempt with the reason of men
to understand Your ways, nevertheless

we often try; we are not ashamed
of failure, especially when it is inevitable.
Perhaps, the trick is to disconnect
the process of existing from the end

goal, or to claim the process is the goal,
or that there is no goal at all, or all of them
at once, and none of them as well. It is
too easy, as I said, to accept defeat.

But, we have before us this book,
already written a thousand years ago.
Look over each reader as the words herein
diffuse from the pages into their brains.

Look also over those who, offended, stop
reading when they finish this prayer.
Lord, I did not know the end to this book
when I set to writing it and I would not

have written it, if I had. That our ways
should be so at odds with each other offers me
no comfort and, probably, is an indication
that I erred, somewhere toward the beginning.