Disbelief

Said the prayer to the dream
I don't believe you want to hear me

Said the dream to paper
I don't believe you want to hold me

Said the paper to the wind
I don't believe you want to help me

Said the wind to the man
I don't believe you see me

The man felt the wind whisper in his ear and swatted the dream
that sounded like a prayer that was held by the paper

In one breath, the wind became an answer
no one ever asked the question to

In one dream, the wind forgot its voice, in another dream the paper
was torn before it learned how to say its own name

In the first dream, the prayer learned what walking through
blackness feels like — it is the opposite of abandonment

In the last dream, all the names are written on the paper
in the form of a prayer that sounds
like the wind and feels like the breath
of a flower across your cheek