The Prayer of a Failure
(a simple poem)
Lord,
I come to you a lowly failure
That has in darkness, wept
And in a bed of sorrow’s dreams—
In haunting screams, I’ve slept.
Oh, how the night does taunt me well
Within my bedroom walls.
The story of my tangled faults
Still waits
And creeps
And crawls
Through the cracks of my troubled mind
Down a stubborn,
Old
Rugged
Road,
Past the weeping wishes of my heart
Into my weak, unguarded soul.
It stands upon my moment’s peace
And breathes into the air
Poisonous pain of past mistakes
And dreams,
And wishes,
And prayers
That somehow drifted into silence.
Such tangled webs I’ve weaved
With dreams,
And wishes,
And pleading prayers
I still want to believe.
I still want to believe I can
Boldly shine my light.
Like a little candle engulfed in darkness—
So am I in life.
And though I am the battered soul
The claws of life have scratched,
Still I want my flame to burn.
Lord, please strike the match
And whisper gently in my soul
“Do not be afraid.”
Show me on a failure’s road,
A way has still been made.
Leave me not, I ask you Lord,
On this road alone.
Help me rise to shine my light
In times that hope is gone.
These hands I’m holding out to you
Have failed so many times,
But now they come together, Lord
For prayer in heart and mind.
This is but a failure’s prayer—
Yes, I’ve lost along the way
But Lord, I simply pray for strength
To win again some day.
Amen.
T.S. Wilkins
