Author: Elizabeth Maynard

Pray for me
that I might see the thing
that needs my blessing
pardon and release

If I knew how to weep
I would do it
great shoulder-shaking sobs
to knock loose and hasten on
every unfinished thing

This buzzing night
every little thing is alive
hidden and revealed

I want something for you
greater than you imagined
day after day
a life filled with the beautiful
ordinary

Those nights you turned
sleepless and afraid
of every thing
you could not name

They are behind you
released into a history
you need never revisit
will never relive

You are not asking too much
It is time to matter
to yourself most of all

Now turn down the heat 
on this living hell you made
You don't have to burn

Here is a display
of ego and vain glory
ugly every time

What we cannot redeem
we must release

It is dawning on me:
I may have a life
precious and singular
as any who came before
and follow after