answered prayer

smoke carries prayer up
in north and south america

wind carries prayer up
with ribbons loosed from trees

east, north, west, south
from untamed colors and bells deep and gleaming
go prayers up

fervent wishes, frank desire, hope,
from everywhere in the human world

to the burning sun, the moon that never turns its face,
to stars, gas giants, the black echo
of heaven
stone, earth, cloud, within


the answered prayer (
culture-changer, world-changer,
messenger sent to chastise and renew)

alarms the faithful

seemingly arrested: falsely burdened with earthly sins,
shattered, imprisoned, hanged,
bastinadoed, bladed, chained, exiled

and still the fearful pray,
give their god another chance
to get it right

while all around the very atoms glow
and endless day hath ended endless night

_____

"Thou beholdest, O my God, how every bone in my body soundeth like a pipe with the music of Thine inspiration, revealing the signs of Thy oneness and the clear tokens of Thy unity." (Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 111)