A Man with a Plan & a Prayer

author’s note:

No, I’m not the man of this poem. For that matter, I don’t pray.

And yet sometimes when I reach the end of the poem, I get a little choked up.


A MAN WITH A PLAN & A PRAYER

A little man in a small room
prayed late at night every night
asking his god to heal
the community

but when he seemed to receive no response
our man realized his heavenly benefactor
might not bother to intercede
unless he himself showed good faith
by coming up with a few ideas
about what he could do to help.

Then after hitting on
what seemed a good idea
the man asked himself:
how can I make that idea a reality?

So next
he took on the onerous task
of developing a strategy
which then led him tov a job of true courage--v he acted on his plan:

he worked with earnest diligence
for forty days and forty nights
(which could be forty months
 or even forty long years).

And each night
after his hard labor
our pilgrim paused
for a few moments of prayer
at the table
in his small room

but during this ritual
he didn’t ask his god
to help speed progress--
to remove any of the many barriers
he encountered
on the path of his plan:

a path of so much frustration--
so much doubt.
A miracle, it seems
that man managed to keep going
until he realized his dream
(at least to some degree).

Afterwards
our crusader never claimed
his victory was a blessing from God--
the fool he’d been had been lost
in the school of his long journey--
what a bruising battle he’d fought!--
so many tough opponents.

Looking back, he again felt
the hurt he’d endured--
the disappointment.

Some days his only solace
was that quiet midnight prayer
when he went within
asking for strength
and emerged just minutes later
feeling strong again.

As that memory lifted him
our man said:
what would I have done
without my god?

What I Learned While Alone: poetry ebook
© 2021, Michael R. Patton