Midnight prayers are closeted

Deep within the mind

Where no listening ear intrudes

Nor interruption find

Then the soul may breathe more free

Joined by armies of the night

Angel stars spill out their hope

In racing bursts of light

There is a morning greening

Just as the day’s begun

But my heart seeks life’s meaning

Long after work is done

There, soft in dewy blankets

I may wrap my weary mind

Around God’s proven promises

Or of some novel kind

All the day wind dies away

And within that balm

Before I strive another day

I seek eternal calm

So I meditate and search within

For memory of God’s voice

When grace restored from shameful sin

Once I made my choice.

I mark the honesty required

To even spare one phrase

God knows the streets I choose to walk

And how I spend my days

So when I voice some sentiment

With silent anguish note

God’s thought’s still higher than my own

Untouched, unknown, remote

O could I for exchange of sleep

Escape that nighttime nod

And through my quiet vigil reap

The company of God!