being catholic

having lost
something
and searched
everywhere,
turning the house
upside down. you turn
to prayer, starting
off first with
a short
but very descriptive
prayer to St. Anthony,
the saint of lost
stuff. but
nothing turns
up, and now you feel
guilty about having
used an intercessory
to reach your goal
of finding an object
that you've
lost, misplaced
or thrown away.
you pray for forgiveness,
but still slip
in that you'd like
to find
what you are looking
for, then
you feel guilty
wasting your prayers
on something
that can easily be
replaced when you should
be praying for
the poor, the sick,
and lost souls
of the world.
so you manage to say
a prayer for those
things, as you pull
the couch out,
shaking the cushions.