The comfort of your body beside me
in the hours after midnight
is not that you will always be there
but that you’re there now.
I don’t believe in forever.
I think I did as a child, kneeling
at the altar rail, feeling the slight
pressure of a hand on the back
of my head as I spoke the lines of
the confirmation prayer. That pressure
is gone now, as is the belief that led
me to my knees then and so many times
before. I am not without conviction
in my middle years; nor am I without
faith of a sort. If I reach out my hand
just a few inches I’ll feel your skin
warm and soft under the electric
blanket. I do that from time to time,
reminding myself to take nothing
for granted. I still fall to my knees
to worship, too, though I give tongue
to different prayers. Both of us
together, one body. Amen.
///
Jason Crane
14 November 2018
State College PA
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