by Gideon Emmanuel
In Remembrance of Joseph & Grace
Dear Lord, These knees They hurt I've been On altars For so long My footprints Have become The church’s rugs My supplications Run over your cup. Are my soft prayers Lodged in your voicemail? My many letters Stranded at your gate? My voice has become somber I go at the drift of tears Of prayers fouled by long weeping Of sins remaining uncounted. I have faith bigger than the mustard seeds They say with much work It becomes bigger & My letters will all be opened Foreshadow the prayers that poked off. I’ve read Genesis to Revelations Sarah Young & some Francine River's & C. S. Lewis & John Bunyan's books. Listened to sermons and podcasts On days when my eyes as lamps are dimmed. I am standing above the altar again Praying, in the cold breath of a Sunday morning. Do I need a bigger faith — the whole trunk of A mustard tree planted in my loamy heart?
Gideon Emmanuel (he/him) is a young poet, teacher, lover of kids/nature, orphans & depressed people, from Lagos, Nigeria. His poems have appeared in Eboquills, U_Rights magazine, Arthut anthology, Boardspeck, Street Child anthology, Terror house, Poemify Publisher. In his leisure time, you’ll find him teaching, reading, writing, meditating & mostly, cooking.