Evening benediction

Invocation

This poem is a prayer for you
my mind shapes these words
for you, my fingers find the keys
clicking them harder than is strictly
      necessary.

This book is a prayer for you
this paper, or this screen, contains secrets
only you can read.

This stanza is a prayer for you
this line lingers near your bedside
this one makes the sign of a cross
this one lights a candle
this one cries out the ache
      in my heart for you

Dear friend, reader, fellow sufferer
if you have forgotten how to pray
I will remind you:

Touch your own soft palm
to your own warm face

There. You have turned your body
into a prayer.

From Blessings for the Long Night: Meditations and Poems to Help You through Depression (on sale at Amazon right now for 50% off!)