November Prayer

God of the bittersweet and the bare branch,
sing a song for the darkness.
Let it be a song of thanks,
a tune as sweet as sunlight
and the memory of golden hills;
and let it be a song to still
the restless winds and winter's fearfulness.

Sing to us a melody of hope
when hearts are cold and night is long;
a song to help us see the winging geese
and turning constellations,
so that we might rise, rise with them
toward that flaming, bright horizon
at the edges of our world.

God of the first frost and the fox's cry,
sing a song for the waning light,
Let it be a song of faith,
so that the last leaf and the fallow earth
may be signs both of ending and beginning.
Let your hymn make us brave as bulbs,
sunk in the sightless earth,
making ready for spring.

Sing to us a song of love,
sing it deep inside us,
a sweetness for our most bitter times,
a peace to give us holy rest,
an answering voice
at the end of our truest prayers.
Amen.
Amen.

 --Timothy Haut, 2010