A grey winter image of a snowcapped mountain peak, with pine trees in the foreground

How Do You Pray?

A grey winter image of a snowcapped mountain peak, with pine trees in the foreground
Rest, by T.M. Spring

How do you pray?

I pray with my feet,
Moving through the world one step at a time
on the mountain trails softened with fallen pine needles,
through the tall-grassed, cattail swaggering waterways,
sidewalks lined with sleeping bodies
against the downtown walls on cold winter mornings.

I pray with food, 
feeding myself and the people I love
warm soups, sugared cookies, yeasty breads 
with salt, oil, and rosemary;
hot spiced chai in a blue hand-painted mug
one that remains of a pair, 
its sister stolen in spite.

I pray with my hands,
Writing words that spew unruly, 
drawing irreconcilable leaded lines; 
Clicking the shutter 
as I watch the light move like angels
in the shadows of a tree, 
a ripple of water,
through the clouds at golden dusk,
trying to capture the ephemeral. 

I pray with my heart,
Noticing the beauty and the terror in the world,
their uneasy dance threaded with love
given and received
broken and destroyed,
begging to be held in the space between,
safe from the pain of extremes.

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