Night Prayer

​Dear Owl, slick with moonlight, watch over me in darkness. Be my witness. Hold me in your steady gaze, hunt me. Screech and howl, Owl, howl – a sound to bring night terrors to their bare and bony knees. Wrap me in your talons with the tender, warm bodies of mice and tangled twigs. Carry me away in your wingspan of ancient wisdom. And please, in your silence, keep asking the Questions again and again: "Who? Who are you? Who? Who would you be without all of this noise? Who?" Dear Guardian, stay with me until the first tiny sliver of morning light appears.