4 ms·
This captures the late-night, meditative feel of it to me: Prayer by Carol Ann Duffy Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer utters itsel
by andyjohnson0 8y ago
This captures the late-night, meditative feel of it to me:
Prayer
by Carol Ann Duffy
Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer
utters itself. So, a woman will lift
her head from the sieve of her hands and stare
at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.
Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth
enters our hearts, that small familiar pain;
then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth
in the distant Latin chanting of a train.
Pray for us now. Grade 1 piano scales
console the lodger looking out across
a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls
a child's name as though they named their loss.
Darkness outside. Inside, the radio's prayer -
Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.
- OJFord 8y agoAre you sure that's not by E.J. Thribb?
- andyjohnson0 8y agoDefinitely Carol Ann Duffy. It's the final poem from her 1993 collection Mean Time.
- OJFord 8y agoI was just kidding, E.J. Thribb is the house-poet of _Private Eye_, a half-satire/half-investigative-journalism magazine in the UK. This poem shares some of the traits of his works, in particular the line breaks.