RAISED UNDER A GODLESS SKY

SOPHIE HENDRICK '23

I whisper these begging prayers

Filled with tears and hope Into your closed ear

In one ear and out the other I spoke to the empty sky With no one there to hear me cry

Instead you fill those ears

With the prayers of others; The ones who will praise you for a miracle, The miracle you would never grant me No matter how many times I ask, No matter how many times I come back Every day I kept up the fight But you tuned me out during the night

And even your house feels unforgiving I can’t sit without a sort of cold sickness rising in me Discomfort like I am about to explode, Slowly seeping across the floor

I know now you never listened To the prayers of a kid who was never taught different