This Is How I Pray

Momma sang her prayers As a little girl To God, the father and the son She prayed for grace but never heard Back from anyone But the skylark and redstart sing to her at dawn The wind taught her all the words to its song Put her hands down in the dirt Walk barefoot on the earth Savor the air her babies breathe Let her tears fall with the rain Follow sunbeams and her faith To the cathedral in the trees This is how she prays Daddy left at sunrise To tend to his garden Of tees, greens, and sand Out on a fairway He prays to a father Who died too young of a man No Sunday singin' or sermon or schoolin' Or bread are needed for that fairway communion Put his hands down in the dirt Walk barefoot on the earth Savor the air his babies breathe Let his tears fall with the rain Follow sunbeams and his faith To the cathedral in the trees This is how he prays I forged my heart With carbon and iron No preacher could break through A tiny voice Shattered my armor with Mommy I love you Love is the prayer I was meant to receive If I can feel, I can believe Put my hands down in the dirt Walk barefoot on the earth Savor the air my babies breathe Let my tears fall with the rain Follow sunbeams and my faith To the cathedral in the trees This is how I pray