Zephyr Prayer

What if God, a friend asks,

never did one more good thing

for you? Salt waves crash

within my cage of bones;

a white foam rises.


I muscle into the zephyr

that floats ahead: a dew-dank

veil, Leah disguised as Rachel,

strands of damp hair glued

to my face in a faithless plea.


Inside the misted mirror,

I meet my own soul: a mermaid

soul, seeking bulbs of daylily

to cover hills of flesh, His

sea-green eye a force that bruises.


What if God, I reply,

buries starfish in tangles

of seagrass? The ocean pulses

the shore; its mineral spray

my pool of Bethesda.