This World is Magic Built on Prayer

Because we don't stay the course,

Drifting in and out of our minds

Forgetting what essential is

In the chiaroscuro of ignorance.

Looking back at my failures

At their immensity I balk

Astounded that I have lost so much

And all these years so little gained.

But I have known the solitude

Of woodland stillness and the friendship

Of birds and joy among the flowers,

No visionary, I have seen

A wealth of extraordinary things,

The frigid Ganges flowing green,

Pebbles like gems in the Colorado,

A hundred hummingbirds at once

At the edge of a sussurant stream

And though few visions were granted me

These have altered how I see.

This world is magic built on prayer

And wisdom deeper than earth's core.