Powerful Prayers
And the women all were beautiful
The men were taut and clear
The chalice swung with the moon
I looked narrow and straight
I had no fear
I had no hate
It was I and it was the water
A baptism of killers
It was the rock that melted
So hot to touch
The rock ran out
I did not cry
I did not shout
Don't you see me down here praying?
There was me
The beautiful things
and the devil
So wrong to try
I did not run
I did not fly
And heaven opened to me in sun
It came in through finger
Locked and waving
A child's understanding
With the fear of man
I did not cower
I had to stand
And with feet planted I punch at wind
It does not laugh
It moves on to hair
Soft and brown
Along a head so pure
It has no poison
It needs no cure
Sin and life when will you untangle
With drink and dry
With time and death
There lay only flashes
Of what mother say
It wants to hold
It never stays
So to God and science I stretched
To the heart of Venus and
To the chariot of Mars
I threw my word
It was never recanted
I was never heard
