—Matthew 6:26-27

This prayer, always with me bending before your
words, begging to be content in the sparrow

of my body, with my forehead in the crevice
of the scripture on the floor. Then I learned

it does not say sparrow in Matthew, just bird,
like how it does not say apple in Genesis, just

fruit. Another myth composed from a single mis-
heard lyric in my girlhood. For years I thought

you’d asked, “Are you not much more valuable
than they?”—the sparrows, specifically the

sparrows. It was years until I’d learn the average
lifespan of a sparrow is only three years, which

is not long in the life of birds. Lord, did you know
they are a more aggressive bird species, who

compete with other birds, and therefore, they tend
to die young? Did you know that many birds

must kill to feed? Oh Lord, why did I want you
to have said sparrows? If you had, it would

have meant, look at the nuisances, the angry and
destructive ones, look at the ones who die young,

I take care of them. And that would have been
beautiful, Lord, but you said birds, and then

you asked me not to worry about
my life, like the birds. But I do.