At night we ask for mercy

The world always seems smaller at night

When everything shrinks to its true size 

And the mountains and I see eye to eye.

The earth exhales, flattening under its false pretense, 

And those who go bare before the night await 

A drop of mercy for who they are.

Night after night, they shrink with the earth,

Hoping to become small enough to be forgiven,

Small enough to be forgotten.

Smaller than a laughing dove, smaller than a cricket

Smaller than the scriptures on the palms of forgiveness.

But mercy never floods

How could it ever be enough

When our suffering is just 

As long as the night?

Let mercy liberate the whole

Or is there truly no salvation for the lost

To whom everywhere is home

And everywhere is longing?

I dream of a heaven without prayer

A place free from want and desire.

But in this dream, there is a prayer in my spine

A tickle in the most recluse parts of my marrow 

Calling to me like a memory, searching for the end

Of something I can never seem to reach.