Prayers of Hypocrites
Do prayers of hypocrites pierce through the clouds
And enter God’s soft earlobe? Does God bend
His ear unto their beggings? There’d be crowds
Of them aflapping at their journey’s end
If heaven’s gates are slammed against their pleas.
Yet if he loves the sinner and the just
Alike, then He must hear them on their knees
When they are prostrate in church aisles. The thrust
Of those despairing supplications — and they would
Have to be frightened as the angels were
As they were falling when they understood
Their destination in their deep doomed whir —
Would be towards mercy. Are you like me? Do
You want his ear closed to the black-tongued pew?