Morning Prayer

I am an outline
Of myself
Left blank.
My eyes have sunken
Into exhaustion.
My hair is quickly
Shedding to the wind.
One breast gone
The left one
Limply hanging,
Screaming
To be taken
With the other
To the grave.
The image
Of my youth
Siphoned off
Into last month
And distilled
Into memories of
Chasing after children
And eating apples
by the mountain streams.

In this world,
I know this pain
Is nothing
But it’s mine.

I offer it
To the shadows
Of the dawn chorus.
Take the depths
Of my swelling heart
And mold it
How You meant
To show my beauty.
Stay with me
For this day.
Hold up this
Fragile outline
To be colored in
With Your blessings
Over time.