Poison Pie Publishing House: A Prayer for Those Who Do Not Pray




A Prayer for Those Who Do Not Pray

Lord, it is not easy talking to You.
You hold all the cards. You perceive
us to the core of our being. Your presence
intimidates and alienates us, because

no one wants all their secrets known,
nor chooses to have the depths
of their despair plumbed, nor feels
secure in the certainty that memories

best left forgotten are retained by One
with unerringly impeccable recall.
O Lord, it must be hard sometimes
to be God of a people who find flaw

with Your perfection or, at least, me.
Lord, have mercy on those with no cause
to pray, those whose belief in the power
of prayer is mitigated by the paralysis

of reason. I ask not that You grant
them faith, for such a gift cannot be given,
only taken by choice. Instead, Lord,
I ask for a broader distribution

of imagination in those who are lonely,
who talk to themselves and do not like
the answer, who have thus far proven
steadfastly unable to conceive of a reply

which might satisfy their yearning
for the comforting whisper of small talk
regarding the topics of the day and, of course,
the curious silence of the elephant in the living room.






A Prayer for Those Who Do Not Pray
David Keffer
Knoxville, TN
October 20, 2014

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