Poem by Henry Crawford

Prayers in Need

The prayers of missing meals grow cold
on the backroom tables of the poor,
down the long hall of broken promises.
The prayers of mothers fall on vines
of famished words. So few are the ways
to tell a child—there’s not enough.
The prayers of empty bowls and the prayers
of useless spoons clatter in closets of want.
In silent kitchens, the prayers of being heard
simmer as they wait for answers.
Tonight, in the skies above the twinkling cities
of the satisfied, the prayers of those in need
wither before they reach the stars.

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Henry Crawford is a Maryland poet and the author of two poetry collections, American Software (2017) and the Binary Planet (2020).

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