prayers

prayers

as a child i was taught the prayers designed to please god
my mother and i knelt beside the bed as we intoned them
while my father sat in his chair in the living room smoking
reading the newspaper filled with sin greed hate and fear
growing older alone in bed i prayed the truth in darkness
and then one cold winter night i thought it better to kneel
as we did in church discomfort a sign of greater devotion
each prayer a repetition feeling of both relief and release
gradually i began to add my own prayers praying for all
a discourse of the day confessing the sins needs and wants
making my personal relationship with the supreme being
though this being knew all created all and saw the future
so how long did i continue this farce why did it slowly end
so at night after going to bed i began to lie there in silence