Your Prayer

only began with words

Photo: © David Whyte

Your Prayer

only began
with words,

each one
you realize,

just
a hand
on the door
to silence,

even
in your
gathered
chanted strength

what you said
in the end
was only
a shoulder
against the grain
of wood

trying to keep
the entrance
open,
until that door
which
had been no door
at all
gave in

to necessary
grief,
which is really
onl…