Just Pray Poem by JAMES T. ADAIR

A woman, a stranger on a bus turned to me
and said one day
you have beautiful eyes
I shook my head and blushed in surprise
I was a younger man then
but I still remember the moment
her unsolicited comment

Sometimes a perfect stranger
can say the kindest thing
and in our hearts the memory of hearing it
does still ring
I never found such kindness in marriage
or in dating
just once in a fling
and that's just the thing
that a feeling of longing and sadness does bring

In this time
all is broken
and what I feel I'm living now
is just a token
of the many lost things inside me
that go unspoken
There's so much more I know
so deep down I know
I have to let go of the burden I've been carrying
I've got to let it go
Because I thought life ending today today
and didn't want anyone else to know
and wished the cold freezing rain had fallen as snow

Part of me wants to tell someone all of the things
but I'm afraid that recounting them just more sadness brings
any one of the feelings would be equally pressing
devastating and depressing
but there is a feeling inside of just being weary
and, at the dropp of a hat, I could get teary
but somehow I pressed on today
and tried to right my way
its a battle I wage lately
in this way, just taking things day to day

But someone so kind
the other day wished me hugs and a kiss
and that thought went straight to my heart
like a blessing and simple bliss
and that simple thing, so kind
today is keeping me from falling apart

I can feel my heart with a heavy beat
fighting off the feeling of defeat
I'm still standing somehow, I'm on my feet
A woman like her
I feel so special to meet
in her distant company I feel safe and warm
like shelter from the raging storm
and somehow I think to her I may be the same
perhaps its fated that here we met
its so uncommon the special feeling from her I get
someone I could never likely ever forget
I somehow feel my heart falling
and hear her imagined soft voice calling
and me I wish to empty everything
from my broken heart
and with her have a chance somehow
for a new start

For the first time in a long time
I feel so afraid
Because I think its someone like her
for whom I have always prayed
and feeling so near now
I'm afraid again I might lose
the very girl kind of heart I would choose
I feel this in her
even through the fog of my blues

So I guess now its best to just pray
and take things day to day
and hope somehow, someway
we are meant to share much more than a day


© James T. Adair