Trying Not to Pray in Autumn

Trying Not to Pray in Autumn

Nadine Ellsworth-Moran

Nattering insects swarm my thoughts
until all is hum, and blur, and winged psalm
out of focus.

You have made it too difficult
to be silent here—
not one step without the snap of twigs
or upending of rocks

to reveal creatures that scatter
with my prayers clenched
in tiny mandibles.

There is no hush, no un-sounding
my prayer though I crush it underfoot—
brokenness finds a way to be heard.

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Nadine Ellsworth-Moran
Poet & Pastor

Photography by Eberhard Grossgasteiger