his unanswered prayer

There had been a tornado

that had rampaged down the lane

it stole every home in its path

and laid claim to ever life it saw fit

one little house still stood

with its sun-bleached siding

garish red door and yard full of weeds

a lady stood in the lawn holding those she loved close

praising the God that has spared their souls

he’d passed over her home

took those murderous winds and drove them away

she praised God that he’s answered her prays

Across the street stood a boy

no more than ten

who in the rubble of his home looked a broken toy

there was nothing left of the place he had grown

nor the family from which he’d been bore

they took his broken mother on a stretcher

they dug to find his father from under the home

his sister’s lungs had given to the collapsing stone

God hadn’t heard his little prays

hadn’t protected him and his

from the very winds that had torn down the road

Across the street he heard the praise

from the women whose house God had saved

from the women who life God had spared

from the women who family God had chosen to protect

while all he had known lay under rubble and stone