A Prayer without Verbs

“Something understood”*

Photo by Mathew Angus (Unsplash)

Moses’ plea to see God’s face
(a peak at his Buttocks granted — to spare his life)

His furious striking of a rock
(a time-out on Mt. Nebo).

David’s cry for help
(Yahweh’s tilting Earth and smoking Nostrils)

The anguished Jewish prayer to smash Babylonian babies
(the end of a Psalm)

Elijah’s pout
(a dried-out sky)

A mustard seed
(a moved a mountain)

A persistent midnight knock
( a grumpy neighbor)

A tenacious old woman
(an apathetic judge)

A howling dove
(the end of winter)

“God mitt uns!”
(on a Nazi belt buckle)

A man crying “Allahu Akbar”
(the 6am streets of Istanbul)

A dog’s whine for its owner
(Rumi’s proof of God)

From George Herbert’s “Prayer.”