Prayer

Oh take me now, sweet angel of mercy
He cried and, crazed, craved insubstantial lips
Of ether, pulsing, floating in the air
Beyond the veil, blank distance too obscure
For groping hands in darkness to attain,
On lovesick lonely days dragging like inches
Further across a never-ending plain.
He died, denied, he screamed and tore his hair,
He raised repentant arms into the sky
And spoke in martyred words a simple prayer.