The Alchemy of Prayer

Take your raw animal anger 
of a shovel-struck snake 
coiled and ready to strike

and redirect it 
an aikido of the spirit,
that is the alchemy of prayer.

Take any version of eros
or any fear, or any dull grief
let it rise from below your belly. 

Let is rise up and out. 
Soften your knees, breathe. 
Each steady breath fuels the alchemy.

Now, hold in your heart someone you love
a magnetic pole to ground you 
to the Holy Love that surrounds you, 
to merge in your heart and intensify 
to ignite tips of flame that glow beyond you.

In the sweatshop of time this is our work
to take the heat, pass it through prayer,
refine it into the heart’s compassion.

Thank You for being part of this poetry community. If you like this poem, give it a heart and share it with a friend.

Images used from Creative Commons; Microsoft Design; John Lewis and Friends at Prayer by Danny Lyon, Corcoran Collection; Infinite Healing by Pietro Perugino, National Gallery of Art; Parrots Prayer Song Linda Lamahaftewa, National Gallery of Art; Prayer Before a Gun, by Adriano Aguilo, Creative Commons.