Classic Poem

How much mystery this atom bears in the universe.
I stand reflecting, and merge in its essence.
How profound is this air, encompassing pious faith.
Let loose, I, an atom, move freely among God's creations,
Large and small.
I envision all the universe as incessant praise,
an invocation to God. True existence, how
ubiquitous in the soul, its serenity in communion,
how steadfast in the spirit!
All that Is, flows in God's bosom.


This ant, so delicate, is God's echo,
He dwells in her limbs, she lives in His soil,
Surrendering herself, His Hands receive her spirit.
Her spirit-in-God won't end in her mortal death.

If you can see, see
In the first glow of Adam's clay, God.
If you can see, see
An unseen world of teeming nations
In the clay: souls bustling and spirits
Swarming in the water.
Creation praised, the created believed, as did I …
So, I escaped the void, proclaiming and proclaimed.
We see the great revealings of Your Self's Semblance in
Your rich and overflowing Sublimity. Your everflowing
Life, clear, resplendent with compassion, the nobler,
Higher Wholeness is Your praise.

With submission I guarded Your Sanctity
My soul consumed, I poured it into prayer …
I was pure, sincere,
what happened?
I've stopped seeing what I could once see.
My spirit darkened, motes of dust clouded
my serene sky. My dreams are bound
to black fate, my hopes to death.
Oh fated end! O tyrant madness, stop
and take provisions from my food and water!


Come close, my heart is heavy with torment!

Only moaning, today, pierces my ear; all that is small or
Great fails my vision. Gone is the resplendent light
Out of my soul, the brilliance of dawn
The water is changed and turned to stone in every stream.
The tune is taken back quickly by the lute.
The ill and weary disappear between gloom and glory.