Dean Rader

[NOCTURNE]

So many things
are asked for

in that moment
before sleep

sets you in
its tiny skiff

and rows
you out

into the deep.
The self

is never more
the self than

when it is
alone,

which is to
say, at its

most needy
and thus

the time
we turn to

prayer, open
as we are,

not to being
filled, but

to being
even more

empty.

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