A Slight and Singular Grace

A Slight and Singular Grace


for Sarah Wheeler



“If you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night
that your cried unto me in your heart…." Doctrine & Covenants 6:22

Of three, this one was difficult,
keeping all of the doors closed
never returning her “I-Love-You”s—
his capacity remaining a mystery.

Carefully she lays herself down
beside him, praying where he
has at last fallen asleep.
This closes the distance a bit…

Still, she yearns for returning words
the way poets do when they cannot find
them and they begin to groan their
way around the barricades. Something

stirs in him. He turns to her, opens
his sleepy mystery-eyes, and says
the love words. As if God in His own
distance has said, “This will have to do.”

4/22/06