Without Ceasing

By Marjorie Maddox

            “Let your question be a prayer …”
                —Abbot William of Saint-Thierry

Near constant—these queries
running the risk of too many
and all the time who, where, when
leap-frogging over the minutes of grace strewn
along the garden pathway just this side
of thorn and brimstone, why and how sprouting
far larger than any beanstalk-seeking giants
or savior distributing Wonder Bread
for the undeserving multitudes,
of which I am chief, my wasted grain seeds
stuffed in a synthetic rawhide pouch
shoplifted last Sabbath from K-Mart.
                                    Will you, O God,
             spit me out of your mouth?
Fear tangles every root of prayer;
all I can mutter is Why? How?
as if Love has a season, as if the garden gate
opened and closed with me.

“Without Ceasing” from Begin with a Question by Marjorie Maddox. © Copyright 2022 by Marjorie Maddox. Used by permission of Paraclete Press. www.paracletepress.com