How did you pray, body and breath,
those wilderness days beneath
stars that made promises,
sand through your hands
counting moments since creation,
each grain an erosion of the whole;
how did you pray, body and spirit
sticky with honey and blood;
how did you pray between
the river and salt sea, between
the jackal and the night owl, eerie,
between soft camel hair
and the hard-nosed rock;
how did you pray, body and soul
when you were prayer incarnate?
