What is life, if full of care, we have no time to stop… for prayer?
In this our world of joy and sorrow,
Where purest bliss and darkest evil
Are passing rare – and most things
Are mixed, and soiled, and spoiled,
Mottled with the daily weft and warp:
The dodgy dividends relating brings.
Humanity: noble, striving, aware,
Yet errant, backsliding, dazed, and
Only partly in touch with reality!
Better the honest sceptic’s qualm,
Than the arrant fact-worshipper’s
Soul-less and vacuous bluffery.
Have you seen God in a rain drop?
Or felt His breath in calm silence?
Sang hosanna at the newborn’s cry?
Do dull days and brick walls enthral?
Find melody in life’s ups and downs?
And knelt in awe once before you die?
An immense universe without, and
A mysterious infinity within.
If we ever exhaust the cosmic vast,
We can never map the human heart.
DNA may yield to us, and space,
But love’s source remains steadfast.
The sacred is that which is… beyond,
Like a ship unseen over the horizon.
The sacred is not irrational – no,
In spite of the god-phobics’ charge.
The fact and proof delusionists
Would have us spiritomy undergo.
Humility is nowadays a no-no,
Replaced by in-your-face attitude.
Sacrifice is completely alien,
And religion a crutch for losers.
But humankind is not almighty:
Our fulfilment lies – in praising Him.