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> He counts the number of the stars.
>> He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names.

Occasion: The stars on a clear night

Lord, I stepped outside for no reason
and forgot to go back in.
The sky just kept opening,
one more star behind the last one,
until I lost count on purpose.

I know a little of what's up there now ---
how far, how old, how many.
Knowing the numbers should make it smaller.
Instead it makes me want to sit down
right here in the grass and stay a while.

You have a name for every one of them.
Not a number.
A name.

I don't have a name for most things in my own life ---
half of what worries me
I couldn't even properly describe.
But You call the stars by name,
one by one,
without ever losing track.

If You hold that much
and still miss nothing,
I don't have to carry tonight by myself either.

Let me stay small under this sky
without feeling forgotten in it.
Let the distance itself be a kind of company.

I came out for no reason.
I'll go back in slower than I came,
still looking up.

Amen.