PÆan to God

I knew that I had God in me when I
Saw God in everyone and everything.
Before then, God could not appear in me
And my soul could not grow a single wing.
Before I saw the table full of guests
I could not feast, did not know what to bring –
Before I heard all the other voices
In the chorus, I could not even sing.

The emptiness which can destroy us all –
That is the absence of God. Let Him find
You – Beauty will enfold you in her arms,
And you will see that before and behind,
Eternity and time, many and one
All constitute the beauty of one mind –
This is the knowledge and wisdom we need
To become beautiful, just, fair, and kind.

And now I know that God is not out there,
An abstract force controlling from above,
But here, on earth, enwrapped in beauty. Here,
One with the lilies of the field, the dove
That brings us peace and transformation, life
Much more alive than any life, warm glove
That staves off chilly, cold, encroaching hate
By being, fair, the personhood of love.