Car Prayer of the Child Bride
       

Prayers are like light. You must do them
in the right place. They don't move

through the walls. They don't work
over state lines. In the car, we pray

as a family: father, mother, sisters.
No more brothers, left at a gas station—

dear to you, Father, no longer—14,
15 and left. We don't pray for those

boys. We pray for pit stops. We pray
for long lines. We pray for weather.

We thank you for this day
when only Father will be driving.

We thank you for the chicken lights.
We thank you for the drive-thrus

at which we will not be stopping.
We will be led

through the veil like water
through cloth. Bless us that the car

will drive; that we will travel safely;
that we will ride without incident;

that the cats will be there when we
get back; that the farm will be there

when we get back; that the sheriff
will be there—and in a storm of stars,

of father-seeking shells, take me and all
my sisters, and we say these things,

this prayer, in the car, in the driveway,
in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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Copyright © 2019 Alison Stine All rights reserved
from Cherry Tree
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission