The Widow's Psalm

Bryant Burroughs imagines a prayer from the Widow of Nain (Gospel of Luke)

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How long, how long must we kneel
and cry to you, until our appeal
is heard and you are stirred?
Do the ears of God hear no sound?  
Are the hands of God bound?
Are the eyes of God blurred?

I had heard that you are Heaven’s Breath  
blowing into us a life that stops death.
Yet here am I, bereft of all save sorrow.
You, son of a widow and the Spy
of God, you didn’t even try.
Does your mother have another son I may borrow? 

God’s only Son, why is my only son here 
on this dreadful God-forsaken bier --
This son of unquenchable tears?
But for no good have I wailed, 
and I wonder: who else have you failed?
I’m left with sorrow to fill my years.  

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Bryant Burroughs is a writer and lives with his wife Ruth in Upstate South Carolina with their three cats. His work has appeared in online literary sites such as Agape Review, Clayjar Review, Pure in Heart Stories and Faith, Hope & Fiction.

Related work on Foreshadow:
The Widow Whose Son Lived by Bryant Burroughs (fiction, July 2022)

Bryant's other work on Foreshadow:
The Youngest Day (Poetry, November 2022)