All That’s Not Enough

by Obi Martin

give us grace
when all that’s not enough
is more than we can find

give grace to us when all we can remember
is all we can never remember, and to which we can never return:
the deep paths of our innocence,
the lines leading backwards
from the agony of memory and self
to the cold, purifying darkness
the righteous leviathans of our nonexistence.

give us grace when our desires
are less than our spirit can live on
when our tongues spin uselessly
when our minds give in under the toil of sanity.
forgive our hearts when our hands lie hidden,
our hands when they hide our eyes,
our eyes when they’ve forgotten how to cry.

both now, and when our only prayers
are for the unconsciousness we can never return to,
forgive us
give us grace.

The times that Obi Martin feels most alive come often when he is reading or writing.