The hour of prayer

After Acts 3:1-10

The ninth hour, or 3 p.m.,

the hour of prayer, the hour

to gather together. As they have

for years, friends or neighbors

or both carry him to the gate, 

he who does not, cannot, walk

from birth. And there, at the gate,

the one they call Beautiful, 

he extends his hands for coins.

He is a fixture, this lame beggar,

an expected sight at 3 p.m.,

the ninth hour, the hour of prayer,

the hour when many things happen,

his begging for coins a prayer

to others, who answer it, sometimes,

or ignore it, sometimes. His daily

carrying from home to temple and

back again is a prayer, too, 

a prayer to help the man’s lameness.

The two prayers merge daily into

one act, one plea, one supplication.

Photograph by Patrick Hendry via Unsplash. Used with permission.