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i wonder if god sees me through my father
Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto
I watch my father speak to God, morning and night.
Before his bed, he kneels and points his head at the world.
Half-way. He falls asleep. With an open mouth to take back his words.
And it’s when I think his prayers start praying him.
I have tried to speak to God, but my body keeps growing into silts.
When I sleep I do not think the world sleeps with me. I wonder if
God my father speaks to sees me through his prayers. For
Those nights I sit by my mother’s grave and hold her hands
And watch the sky twinkle my body as song written from the back.
Jacob Henry Studer,
Natural Science Association of America, 1903
"Brown or Sandhill Crane"