Manna

Prayer is invisible and advisably secret.
If we could hear the inaudible contents
it might sound like the roiling of a mighty river
over scrabbly rocks, or the whirr of infinite
prayer wheels generating the world-winds
atop some hidden mountain.

All I know is that the breath of the heart
escapes its bounds.
The tail of the comet streaks into the ether
burning faster than any silver bullet.

It doesn’t stick in the brain to recoil and rewind,
but flies like a light-arrow toward the stars
by force of desire returning home.
Before the bow-string stops vibrating
it has traveled around the world three times.

Yearning reaches out hard with both hands.
Hoping blows down the walls.
Desperation breaks the sound barrier.
Gratitude sinks deep into warm earth.

The coming back of prayer is big change!
The prescription is entirely individual.
It has been, among many things,
a pebble in my shoe,
finding lost objects,
being saved from possible humiliation,
the voice of a cricket on a mountain walk
saying, “I love you. I love you.”

Manna was only good for one day.
It tasted like coriander
and was gathered fresh every morning in skirts.