Not every prayer
is a verse
spoken aloud
with steady hands.
Some come through
a single inhale
held long enough
to keep you from breaking.
Some are the quiet glance upward
when no words form.
Some are tears
you don’t explain
because you don’t have to.
Some prayers
don’t sound like prayers.
They sound like
sighs,
like silence,
like staying
when leaving felt easier.
But they rise,
just the same.
And they are heard,
just the same.