by Brian G. Daigle 
​
I saw her there on canvas stretched 
With strokes and pigments ever etched. 

I beheld her once on mountain peak,
Those Sawtooths reaching heaven's seat. 

I felt her dimly by the light 
That love burns when two loves unite. 

I stood within her cathedral walls
Where bread rebuilds and rebels fall.

I feared her still with raging waves
Which crashed upon far Roach's cove.

I viewed her in that father's care
When War did bind and fear ensnared. 

I kissed her, never calm nor tame,
Her power tempered not by name.  

I held her in my child's delight 
When fatherly affection did ignite.

I cried for her when broken hearts 
Still loved and shared what love imparts. 

I heard her hum from cello's deep,
From violin strings my soul did leap. 

I read her once in Homer's verse,
And by Chesterton's pen my faith she nursed. 

I counted her deep in Augustine's stream, 
When mercy crept like ivy green. 

I watched her born, I knew it true
Where daughter vacated mother's womb.

I smelled and tasted her at dusk
When mother's table I learned to trust.  

I heard her in each story told,
By Payne Street's flames, both young and old. 

I saw her too when rampart men,
First laid their eyes upon Helen. 

But never was she more terribly seen 
Than when divine blood death did ripen. 

 by Brian G. Daigle 

Happy endings do exist,
Though nightfall covers morning's bliss,
Though downward goes life's plotting twist,
Though knowledge be veiled with clouds and mist,
Though nails be buried in the wrist,
Though Lent highlights the antagonist,
Easter endings do exist.

by Brian G. Daigle

​Upon this earth my eyes embrace
The likes of ancient Love’s fair face.
It grows my heart with greater space.
Toward virtue, joy, and levity chase!
Bid not me, of all the human race,
To see it now but then disgrace. 

by Brian G. Daigle

At the threshold I wait for thee,
              the one who is not surprised,
              the one who foresaw its scope and size,
              the one who placed it before my eyes.
 
At the threshold I look to thee,
              the one who neither trembles nor fears,
              the one who sees every drop of tear,
              the one toward whom my vessel steers.
 
At the threshold I worship thee,
              the one who is my saving door,
              the one who is my ever-filled store,
              the one who portal-cross did bore.
 
At the threshold I pray to thee,
              the one who opens heaven’s gates,
              the one who took on human state,
              the one whose blood does saturate.
 
At the threshold I sing to thee,
              the one whose song did precede,
              the one whose tune fills every need,
              the one who is our eternal creed.
 
Through the threshold I walk toward thee,
              the one who held the thresh for me.

by Brian G. Daigle (in the Herbertian mode)

Sleep the creatures respite, Angels’ ignorance.
Death’s shadow, the appetizer of resurrection’s banquet.
The body’s surrender to finitude in brief.
Horizontal vulnerability made full.
Man’s self-ode silenced once more.
Animal comfort that the Author speaketh still.
Infant’s domain the elder reclaims.
Ambition’s enemy toward acquisitions more, beyond our store.
Freedom’s wings from sensible things.
God’s envelope for dreams. 

by Brian G. Daigle

Prayers for the Physiological Competencies Needed to Awake Early
 
A Noonday Prayer for Early Bedtime
O Lord, who governs the eyes to open and shut, provide my eyes with the proper weight so they would close upon sweet rest. Provide my mind and body rest, that I would complete this evening’s work shortly after the setting sun. That upon the sun’s setting, my evening would be filled with leisure and peace, and that all I didn’t complete this day would not anxiously remain in my heart and mind. Grant me an early bedtime, that I may be prepared to rise and serve thee, oh Prince of peace and Rector of rest. Amen.
 
A Morning Prayer for Exercise
O Lord, creator of our bodies—bones and breath—create in me this day a care for my body and sustain me in proper physical exercise, a delight in walking and general fitness so as to conform my feet and my physique to better serve you and serve others. Grant me moments of solitude and leisure to walk, so that I may give attention to the world around me. Tire my body in this endeavor, so that in being tired I would experience sweet sleep this evening. Amen.
 
A Morning Prayer for Eating Well
O Lord, our provider and curator, we ask this day, as you have modeled, for our daily bread, that this bread would be filling and comforting, that it would point us to your providential and Sabbath table. As we eat, grow in us the virtues of temperance and liberality, that in so eating our fill of good food we would neither forget you nor steal from others. Grant us open hands to share with our brothers and sisters in need. Provide our bodies proper nourishment in our food this day so that when night falls, our bodies would be sustained through the night and given energy for the new day. Amen. 
 
A Morning Prayer for Water
O Lord, our living well which never dries, our dawning dew which never drains, our holy fount which never fouls, provide us this day with both the living water of your Word and fresh water to hydrate our bodies. With each sip, remind us of your care and goodness, that in drinking the waters of this world we would ever more thirst for your righteousness. With our thirst doubly satisfied, weight our bodies to rest this evening and awake early to the rising sun, being driven by a thirst which you both sustain and satisfy. Amen.
 
A Noonday Prayer for an Afternoon Nap
O Lord, our Eternal rest and Potentate of time, open our schedules this afternoon for light and easy rest. Calm our spirits and meditate our minds on your return and coming rule, so that our cares would be situated amid a greater story. Do this for us this day, and so prepare us for a setting sun whose light and warmth moves to awaken the rest of your creation. Provide for us a dull moment that we would be prepared to rest this evening and awaken tomorrow with strength and industry. Amen. 

​
Prayers for the Moral Competencies Needed to Awake Early
 
An Evening Prayer for God’s Dawning Grace
O Lord, your wise servant tells us your mercies are new every morning. Before our eyes glimpse tomorrow’s sun, motivate us first with that thought. In the grogginess of morning, turn our attention to your renewed grace and with the rising of the sun, bring to our mind that Son which has shined upon our souls, to enliven our affections to you that tomorrow you would keep our thoughts, our actions, and our speech. Fill our imaginations with the blessings yet to be tasted, and make that the motivating force for our head to forego the pillow in that early light, that we would walk closer with you tomorrow than we have in days past. Amen.
 
A Morning Prayer for Early Gratitude
O Lord, how you watch over your flock by night, how you keep them when they are inanimate and unable to keep themselves. Thank you for keeping us through the night, that we would enter again your present favor. Impart to us early today a heart full of thanksgiving, first for the simple and the mundane, then for the extravagant, for all are given by your hand and all are good if they bring us to you, our chief good. Amen. 
 
A Morning Prayer for Eagerness and Industry
O Lord, maker of heaven and earth, former of the formless, light to the darkness, out of the overflow of your triune being, you made and called it “good.” We ask this morning we would have the same vision, that we would be eager, out of an overflow of fellowship with you, to create, eager to speak the truth, eager to listen, and eager to set our hands faithfully to the plow. Make fruitful our labors this day so that we would be evermore eager each morning to fulfill our vocation, to rise early and labor for your glory. Amen. 
 
An Evening Prayer for Discomfort (or An Invective against Comfortable Pillows)
O Lord, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Our vision is blurred and our expectations are low. Create in us a discomfort for lying in bed too long. Call to our minds the blessings of the day, the story yet to be told, the holiday feast at the sea yet to be shared. May we take from sleep just what we need to carry with joy the work set before us, and nothing more. Let us labor while it’s day, for in due time the grave will lay us low. Amen. 
 
 
Prayers for the Relational Competencies Needed to Awake Early
 
An Evening Prayer for Children, or a Reliable Alarm Clock
O Lord, enliven our womb and fill our quiver so that you may awaken us each morning to the great responsibility of forming our children to love you and love others, that they would see us eager to labor and so be eager themselves in building your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Patter their feet so we hear and attend. Shuffle their toys so we care and befriend. Open anew our eyes this morning to see our children as gifts given again to us this day. Grant us child-like wonder for the children in our home or those who have matured into adulthood. If they do not wake us in eager expectation for the day, alarm us to rise and awaken them with joyous greetings of mercies new. Amen. 

by Brian G. Daigle

Our Father in Christ, 
In listening, make my countenance soft and my reception shrewd.
              Fix my attention upon the speaker that they may catch a glimpse of how You attend to both our prayers and ramblings.
              Teach me to affirm what is right and graciously deny what is false.
              May the light of friendship be seen wherever dialogue is found.
              And cause me to seek to understand before being understood. 

In reading, make my soul and surroundings the solitude I need for broad comprehension and deep contemplation.
              Fix in me wisdom when selecting readings, knowing my time on earth is short.
              Teach me steadfast diligence in completion, or peace to put a book aside.
              May the light of my reactions be as if the writer were there with me, incarnate.
              And cause me to make holy applications according to your Scriptures, Oh Lord.  

In writing, make my hands conform both craft and content to your goodness.
              Fix my arguments in both soundness and relevance.
              Teach me metaphors most effective. 
              May the light of our creatureliness be seen in our own creations.
              And cause in me a greater trust of your Spirit’s work over my own eloquence

In thinking, make my contemplation worthwhile. 
              Fix my thoughts within earthly bounds, where you have placed us.
              Teach me hope, that the lies of the evil one would not take root.
              May the light of prudence and purity abound.
              And cause in me a love of stillness, that I would know You are God. 
             
In speaking, make my being know the weightiness of the tongue, as fire, sword and healing agent.  
              Fix my words with great care for the listener. 
              Teach me when to speak and especially when not to speak.
              May the light of wisdom and redemption flow forth to the hearers. 
              And cause in me a Christian’s mouth, that the world would know you are the Logos.   

When interruptions come, however large or small, commit to my being a joyful trust and patience, not in my own strivings, but in Yours.  

And in all these, make my heart, soul, mind, and strength wholly submit to the guiding of your Holy Spirit, who has proceeded from the Father and the Son to till the entirety of the saint; that your bride, the church, would be presented to You clean and unblemished according to your holiness, Oh Lord. Amen.