Midnight Intercession

by Tamara Hartzog Willey

It is I, Lord,
yes, I who forgot you today
lie in my bed with muddled head
trying to regain what distractions lost.
Mists of silence move mysterious, vain
over the shifting, gaping pain,
groping for words,
calling out their name;
but just the time their name is signed
the names are lost,
their names are lost.

O God, you know my sin
can any thought of others enter in
when all is in disarray
like my children’s rooms at the end of day?
So many, so much in need of You.
And here am I in such need, too.

“Where two or more come unto Me,
pray in My name—there I will be.”

Though lone I’ve come in night’s dark vale,
just you and I—and I have failed,
I feel you near,
You know my frame,
You hear my sighs
and speak their name.
As slumber calls
and burdens lift,
I whisper thanks for this, your gift:
they are not lost to you,
we are not lost to you.

Mother and “Amma” to five grandchildren, Tamara Willey enjoys wordsmithing and can happily lose herself in historical research, listening to a friend, talking about her Lord, or traveling God’s world with her trusty ukelele.

Photography by Kenneth Godoy