An angel-less God

An angel-less God                                                                         

Into the snowdrift I fall backwards

to make an angel, but

gazing into an endless sky –

the stars’ glitter,

the moon’s silent shifting,

cold earth against at my back,

I feel suddenly under the thumb

of an angel-less God,

overwhelmed by the travails

and duration of my soul’s exile

and how many more

arduous journey’s stretch before me

‘til the promised quenching,

rest and reunion.  Then,  

You hoist me to my feet. 

God’s shape, You say, is this shape –

pointing to the impression

my body has left in the snow. 

O pilgrim!  Our portion of infinity 
spans but fingertip to fingertip; 

the duration of our vigil measured 
by the heart's brief, pattering flurry.

Union may be far away but, God is close at hand --
nearer than our own clouded breaths. 

O child of God, surely angels hover everywhere

in the realm of Benevolence Eternal.

                     

The prayer of Immensity

The prayer of Immensity

I used to crawl through the Universal Prayer

on my hands and knees,

entering through a hatch

in the O before Parvardigar.

By lying flat, twisting myself here and there,

I could inch my way to the last word of worship.

But, one morning, midway through, I tripped

a hidden switch or brushed a secret lever,

or, perhaps ... it was the power of one word

spoken with heartfelt sincerity –

the whole prayer expanded to the dimensions

of the descriptions within it.

Not just the firmament and the depths,

but on all planes and beyond . . .

the three worlds and beyond . . .

the source of Truth, the Ocean of Love,

beyond and beyond and still yet beyond . . .

time and space, imagination and conception.

I found myself in an endless void as the words

of the prayer rose to my lips and faded in my ears.

O child of God, this is the prayer of Immensity –

the Immeasurable, the Unnamable and Incomprehensible. 

O child of God, recite faithfully the Universal Prayer.

It’s about you and who you really are.