Wild horses

Christian Century, Sept 26, 2001 by William M. Ramsey

   Prayers are not predictions.
   They are hardly contracts
   binding gods and events
   to the tether of our will.
   They are wild horses.
   The cures to our pains
   and soothing of our losses
   graze with unconcern
   on slopes in the distance.
   Some are spotted,
   others solid bright or dark--
   all free as ragged wind
   on an upland range.
   As we near them
   they raise their head,
   catching scent of our desire,
   deciding whether to run,
   whether to await us.