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Cane: PRAYER

Cane
PRAYER
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table of contents
  1. CANE
  2. FOREWORD
  3. CONTENTS
  4. KARINTHA
  5. REAPERS
  6. NOVEMBER COTTON FLOWER
  7. BECKY
  8. FACE
  9. COTTON SONG
  10. CARMA
  11. SONG OF THE SON
  12. GEORGIA DUSK
  13. FERN
  14. NULLO
  15. EVENING SONG
  16. ESTHER
    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. 3
  17. CONVERSION
  18. PORTRAIT IN GEORGIA
  19. BLOOD-BURNING MOON
    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. 3
  20. SEVENTH STREET
  21. RHOBERT
  22. AVEY
  23. BEEHIVE
  24. STORM ENDING
  25. THEATER
  26. HER LIPS ARE COPPER WIRE
  27. CALLING JESUS
  28. BOX SEAT
    1. 1
    2. 2
  29. PRAYER
  30. HARVEST SONG
  31. BONA AND PAUL
    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. 3
    4. 4
  32. KABNIS
    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. 3
    4. 4

PRAYER

My body is opaque to the soul.
Driven of the spirit, long have I sought to temper it unto the spirit’s longing,
But my mind, too, is opaque to the soul.
A closed lid is my soul’s flesh-eye.
O Spirits of whom my soul is but a little finger,
Direct it to the lid of its flesh-eye.
I am weak with much giving.
I am weak with the desire to give more.
(How strong a thing is the little finger!)
So weak that I have confused the body with the soul,
And the body with its little finger.
(How frail is the little finger.)
My voice could not carry to you did you dwell in stars,
O Spirits of whom my soul is but a little finger...

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