First Name Basis

I’m humbled when I pray next
To some of the other guys
In my minyan.

Some pray with intense devotion,
Some with enviable fluency,
Some with serene contemplation.

And I’m usually left
Wondering what page we
Are on and why I’m

Even bothering….

But the most humbling is the guy
Who, for some elusive reason,
Is indeed
On a first name basis
With the Ancient One of Days.

Not that his prayers seemed to be answered
As such
Just that the two of them seem so intimate.
So I admit,
I envy the guy,

Which, itself, might be considered
A bit of a sin
As I covet the friendship
And would like to address
Him by His First Name, too.