You are covered in prayer

I think poetry is the language of mystics, and also the language of conversation and dialogue. Poetry is putting to words that which cannot be put into words, but in a way that is open and remains undefined, instead of closed and fixed. Poetry is molding, but it is also moldable. It is fluidity within fluidity. It is shaped while it shapes. The poet understands the poverty and barrenness of words, and yet believes in the abundance and possibilities of them as well.

Perhaps, if poetry is the language of mystics, then prayer is the work of mystics. I think, sometimes, the temptation for people is to view prayer as the escape from the world, as the way out. But prayer requires that we be intimately engaged with the world: with war, with pain, with hunger, with loneliness, with sickness, with dying, with laughter, with friendship, with dancing, with flowers, with living....... Likewise, in prayer, we are intimately engaged with God, who is intimately engaged with the world.

People ask, "Does prayer really work", but I think the answer is that prayer is work. Prayer is work that is fluid within the fluidity; that envisions what has yet to be; that hopes beyond the moment yet is grounded mindfully in the present; that recognizes God in all that is good and strives for all that is good to be all that is.

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