Prayer

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Two empty palms
Gnarled and roughened
Trembling in despair
Clasped in prayer
No questions, no whys
Accusations of lies
Just a humble, deep plea
Of the powers that be
A plea to restore
Just a day no more
Of those that were worn
In a life ravaged, torn
That for years and years
To wipe all their tears
Built fortresses of stone
Bare hands, all alone
Now toughened and sore
They cannot any more
With the brushes I hold
Paint worlds of gold
Now the chasm inside
Echoes their cries
That fade to grey
No words left to say
Their prayer today
Thriving one moment 
In the summer of all
They bid me farewell
At the turn of my fall
My eyes, silent too
Bowed in prayer to you
They no longer see
What the world sees in me
I can no longer see
What it is to be me
These hands ask today
Of a lifetime, just a day
Just one that would be
As a leaf is to a tree


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8:11 PM,  4 May 2018