Prayers for the Prodigal Within

Prayers for the Prodigal Within

Mark Bennion

May he see through the charades at shindigs
and the blind, teeming hours of late nights
when his friends all whisper, Bigwig, bigwig.
May he swim for the shore before the light
turns to gloam, before tendon burn becomes
biblical thirst and his body shuts down.
May he know the husk and then taste the crumb,
come to himself on the far side of town,
and when he meets others along the creek
that sends him back to Father’s field and home,
may he discern in them what’s just and meek,
fast for their riven spirits and frail bones.
May he winnow within the wheat from chaff,
see himself always in the slaughtered calf.

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Mark Bennion
Poet & Teacher

Mark’s work has appeared in Anglican Theological Review, The Cresset, Dappled Things and other journals. Recently Resource Publications published his collection Beneath the Falls: poems

Photography by Elijah Brune