Yesterday
I knelt at an array of unlit candles
reading the morning prayer before the noonday sun.

“Test me, O Lord, and try me; examine my heart and my mind.”
“Do not snatch me away with the wicked and evildoers,
who speak peaceably with their neighbours,
while strife is in their hearts.”
“As for me, I will live with integrity;
redeem me, O Lord, and have pity on me.”

A thin man moving furniture asked
“Reverend: am I disturbing
you?” and I said, no,

no, noticing the air around the chairs
which he set so softly to the floor
while my soul thrashed rudely about
questions of judgement,
the washing of hands,
and innocence.