Monday, January 6, 2025

"Prayer" by C.S. Lewis

 C.S. Lewis once said that the prayer preceding all prayers is “May it be the real I who speaks.  May it be the real Thou that I speak to.”  In the following poem, entitled “Prayer,” Lewis peeks into what prayer looks like.  

Master, they say that when I seem

To be in speech with you,

Since you make no replies, it’s all a dream —One talker aping two. 

They are half right, but not as they  

Imagine; rather, I

Seek in myself the things I meant to say,

And lo! The wells are dry.

Then, seeing me empty, you forsake 

The Listener’s role, and through

My dead lips breathe and into utterance wake

The thoughts I never knew. 

And thus you neither need reply

Nor can; thus, while we seem

Two talking, thou are One forever, and I 

No dreamer, but thy dream.

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