LIVE POETRY... POESIE VIVANTE...
| ALPHA OMEGA The Greek saw my reason, the Jew heard my law; Saint Paul sought salvation, Mohammed felt awe; The Buddha sensed void, and the Hindu grasped all, From sunrise till nightfall they followed my call. I am the I AM, the beginning and end Whom all creatures know, yet none comprehend, Eternal foundation, both thinker and thought, Galactic electron, the whole and the nought. Your temples stand empty, your priests pander lies, Refracting reflections in unseeing eyes, Strange cyphers whose meanings they struggle to find, Not daring admit that their gropings are blind. You try to confine me to scrolls, tombs, and rocks, Adoring your constructs, your gods-in-a-box. Assuming that I am the shadows I cast, You clutch the minute while ignoring the vast. And yet, deep within, you are tortured by doubts, The graver your scruples, the louder your shouts, Proclaiming the TRUTH as you wish it to be - Deluding the faithful might render you free! Your armies and sages wage war in my name, Proclaiming my glory, they murder and maim. They crush all dissension and don't have a clue: MY TRUE NAME IS LOVING AS PRACTICED BY YOU. In me all distinctions are destined to merge, I am jubilation and funeral dirge. Both mother and father, both servant and Lord, Both matter and spirit, both scalpel and sword. My touch can spell death, and my breath can grant life, I cure like a poultice, and cut like a knife, Forever in sight and always concealed, Both killer and victim, both healer and healed. My justice embraces the fold and the stray, The creatures of night and the children of day, The ones you call evil, the ones you call good, I cherish them all, as progenitors should. You cry this is folly, that I should be fair, An eye for an eye, and a hair for a hair! The Scriptures, you argue, spell right and spell wrong! But Scriptures are framed in a limited tongue. Have faith, and I say you are destined to find. Dare search in your soul and dare search in your mind, Take wing with your stories, plunge deep into night, Prepare for my presence, my radiant light. And then, once you rest in the warmth of my glow, You shall at long last be permitted to know The secret of secrets, eternally true: MY ESSENCE IS LOVING AS PRACTICED BY YOU. Ingrid Shafer 1980, 1993, 2000. |