Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PRAYERS, by FLORA SHUFELT RIVOLA


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PRAYERS, by                    
First Line: I used to try to bring god near
Last Line: I thought I had laid by.
Subject(s): God; Prayer; Religion; Theology


I used to try to bring God near
With words that I called prayers.
Now words are like the tattered clothes
A broken body wears:

For you are never far now, God,
And words are useless things
To a spirit that has learned at last
That it has wings.

Now prayer is just a harmony
Of bud and glow and breath,
With never fear's least tremor
At thought of death.

Only, sometimes, so human I,
Fear will come creeping in
For one I love—then I grow old
Again: God, is it sin

That I forget your nearness so?
And I reach out and try
To wrap me in the broken words
I thought I had laid by.





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