To love

To love          

To love God in the most practical way,
Meher Baba said, is to love our fellow beings.
 
I nod always, mumble under my breath –
yes, because everyone is You.
 
But, one day, You whispered in return –
because, lover, to love is to love God.
 
The sculptor grinds the chisel to a perfect bevel.
The sawyer sharpens the blade’s teeth.
 
The cutting torch, the welder adjusts
to the precise admixture 
 
of acetylene and oxygen.
Now the flame can cut steel.
 
It is the purity of love that shapes and sharpens
the chisel, the blade, the flame,  
 
allowing for the cutting through,
the paring down, the severing.
 
Love tempers the mind, attunes the heart,
allows for the cutting through
 
our bonds, our armor, our self-constrictions,
pushing beyond the pales of our fear.
 
O child of God, to love is to teach
the heart how.  To love is to love God.