by Ellen McHugh

pray undistracted by 
(trivial things) pray 
some 
thing 
new 
every day 	pray 
God would    pray 
undistracted too         
& set us each 
in grace           pray 
God 
rests 
aware befriends us 
in his gloom   pray 
1 million messages of ungarbled 
lamentation 	 pray God 
for peace in all 
(no matter what)    pray 
God in contra ways 
in light & shadows too
betwixt the clatter of 
this kitchen and the quiet 
of sunroom    pray God 
pray us awake in winter, spring,
summer, fall    pray God

for This and All.

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Ellen McHugh is a retired nurse and former adjunct instructor of English Composition at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, Ohio where she also served on the editorial staff of the school’s online literary journal, the Chagrin River Review. She holds an MA in English from Cleveland State University. Several of her poems have appeared in Cleveland State’s Whiskey Island and Litbreak magazines. Currently, Ellen is retired from work but not from life. She enjoys sketching, mulching, helping out in her community, and meeting up once monthly with the Church Ladies. She and her husband of 40 some years have three daughters and three grandchildren—each one, a blessing.