I Pray Tonight
by Michael R. Burch

I pray tonight
the starry light
might
surround you.

I pray
each day
that, come what may,
no dark thing confound you.

I pray ere tomorrow
an end to your sorrow.
May angels’ white chorales
sing, and astound you.

Composer Mark Buller used the lyrics of “I Pray Tonight” in his musical composition “Erasure,” a song cycle for baritone, clarinet and piano on the theme of gun violence. “I Pray Tonight” was later performed as “Elegy” at the Hurricane Harvey Relief Concert by the Apollo Chamber Players in partnership with Musiqa Houston and Jazz Forever @ the MATCH (Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston), on September 8, 2017. All proceeds went towards the Harvey Relief Funds. Keywords/Tags: Pray, prayer, angel, angels, divine, protection, safety, starry, light, mercy, grace, comfort, shield, buckler, safeguard, charm, talisman, white magic

I’ve got a secret that lives in my head
no one knows of it, not even me.
It surfaces slow while I lie in my bed
I wish I could sleep peacefully.

Wind is biting my ear, my left side is ice cold,
I’ve turned numb; I’m not even tingling.
A lifetime of bronze and silver, finally received gold,
but to place around my neck; I’m still hesitating.

It’s been a starry, starry night,
with Rhone’s reflection shining bright
and our Irises connect and only ever see light.
Studying sorrow; pain vs. fear,
so I’ll sit back and contemplate for another year,
would you appreciate the sentiment of Van Gogh’s lost ear?

It will be while on the dryest island where I find my lungs filled with water.
It will be collapsed on ground when I finally stand,
and encased and embraced in ice when I start getting hotter.

Promises will be made
and secrets are kept,
you’re inside me as I’m flayed,
exposed and I feel in debt.
You know that I love you,
that I only think of you,
and no one is your equal let alone ever above you.

It’s been so long at Eternity’s Gate,
I missed the Almond’s Blossom; I was too late,
and The Potato Eaters complain with what is on their plate.
Studying sorrow; shame or a tear,
so I’ll sit back and contemplate for another year,
would you appreciate the sentiment of Van Gogh’s lost ear?

I’d jump to paint your shadow
or even draw your outline in chalk,
I’d drag myself behind you even if you were to allow
me the privilege alongside you to walk.

"the stars are so pretty tonight,"
so pretty
i want to drown in them.

i want to be swept up in the current
of a swirling sky,
i want to die up there.
a peaceful death,
a death among the stars,
among the angels before i fall.

i want to see heaven,
just once, then i'll let
the riptide take me and
throw me down with the rain,
with all the falling stars
she rejects every day.

I want to feel each wave
crash
above my head;
i want to drown in stardust,
let the sky fill my lungs,
let it **** me.

I'll take some heaven
down with me.

Starry when the night began, we ran ran ran
along running water young enough to have no trace of age.
Alice strung out floating like the prettiest diamond
imaginable.

Kindly petting cheek then struck like a thunderous match,
her face glowed a sinking white-- a face made of candles
lit beneath plaque eye sockets, wildly staring blackness,
lips built on an unfamiliar shade of red,
Flaxen hair that sliced along gemstone irises;

I love love love you. Please, stay a while longer, long
enough to feel like forever-- although I know such is impossible--
Look at those seagulls feeding rain to the distant waves,
Wings soon to be scrambling overhead, let me read you a book
about a girl whom you were probably named after.

I will sing a lullaby and hold hold hold you in it for
as long as I can.

The gentle
creature was
lost in her
thoughts,
like clouds
on a starry
night, where
all the galaxies
shined for her,
the special
one who’s
light was
the brightest,
when she
cried, the
songs of
angels
healed her,
whenever
she felt
so alone,
their white
wings dress
her short
hair in
flowers of
carnations
and roses,
even though,
her beauty
was created
to be greater
than those
petals, for
they came
from her,
unaware
of how
radiant
she was,
In tears
she stayed,
until one
day, a bird
came by her
windowsill,
and sang
to her,
“you, the
fairest and
most delicate
one, came
to world
with your
wings of
white,
with the
purest
symphony
wrapped
safely in
the locket
of your
heart,
with time,
the darkness
of man haunted
your existence,
fear not, your
song will live
on forever
and more,
healing the
ones who
seek refuge
in love,
I shall fly
above,
though I
will never
be far, for
you are with
me everywhere
I soar, you are
the waves
of deeper
rising clouds,
where your
song returns
to your
embrace”,
she asks
the bird,
“will the song
heal their
suffering?”
the bird
replies,
“they shall
hear you
once they
awaken,
when the
time will
come,
when your
radiance
will be
revealed,
the flower
of you
will bloom
gardens
in their
chests”,
she then
replies
to the bird,
“as love
would
do”, the
room
fell in
silence
as the
trees,
in gentle
music, had
danced
with the
night wind,
the bird
then took
flight,
and she
heard these
words being
sung “you
have spoken
the truth, and
wisdom
shall light
your path
wherever
you may
sojourn,
my flower,
rise, and
guide the
dreamers!