On Sunday

Prayer in My Boot

For the wind no one expected

For the boy who does not know the answer

For the graceful handle I found in a field
attached to nothing
pray it is universally applicable

For our tracks which disappear
the moment we leave them

For the face peering through the cafe window
as we sip our soup

For cheerful American classrooms sparkling
with crisp colored alphabets
happy cat posters
the cage of the guinea pig
the god with division flying out of his tail
and the classrooms of our cousins
on the other side of the earth
how solemn they are
how gray or green or plain
how there is nothing dangling
nothing striped or polka-dotted or cheery
no self portraits or visions of cupids
and in these rooms the students raise their hands
and learn the stories of the world

For library books in alphabetical order
and family businesses that failed
and the house with boarded windows
and the gap in the middle of a sentence
and the envelope we keep mailing ourselves

For every hopeful morning given and given
and every future rough edge
and every afternoon
turning over in its sleep

 — Naomi Shihab Nye

It's a gray and gloomy weekend in my part of the world. And this poem, this prayer, touches all the universal — internal and external — aches. Many thanks to Molly Spencer, at Both Fires, who shared this poem with me.  

What's your Sunday prayer, or poem? 

Comments

[Molly Spencer]

Hi Drew - thanks for the mention. I love "Prayer in my Boot." I used to post prayers, meditations, or poems on Sundays, but haven't done it in a long while. Thanks for the inspiration to do it again. There are Sunday-words are on my blog tonight. Have a good week.

[Ros]

I nominated you for the stylish blogger award because you are always so supportive! http://www.lifesawheeze.com/2011/02/stylish-blogger-say-what.html

[drew]

Sara -
What a nice surprise! Thank you. I love your blog, and appreciate your perseverance to running even with, despite of, because of, asthma! Go wheezers!