The Psalm of Useless Prayers by Nicolas Samaras - NPM1

To become holy.
To become a philanthropist by winning the lottery.
To make someone love me.
To make me taller and handsome.
To change everyone else.
To understand the opposite sex.
To have my children understand me.
To keep my hair.
To ask for things apart from good health.
To write my speech for the Nobel committee.
To have a Church without conflict.
To bargain for anything.
To fit in the clothes I wore when seventeen.
To go back and live in a time of innocence.
To live my life without fantasy --
          which is fantasy.
To not pay the cost of time on these prayers.
To have the fleeting time back.

Samaras, Nicholas "The Psalm of Useless Prayers" American Psalm, World Psalm. Ashland: The Ashland Poetry Press, 2014. 48.