if my prayers were ever to reach heaven

i think the angels would inhale them

as if they were oxygen, as if they

were suffocating in the presence

of an almight God. they would

cling to them as a child hugs

their blanket in the darkness

of the night and as a drowning

person clutches their life line.

but my prayers do not reach the

heavens for they never leave my

tongue as it hurts to much to

pray when all you feel is pain.