WHO ARE YOU

 

              God, where are you?

              And what are you?

             When I kicked a stone, and broke my toe,

             I saw you as pain;

             When I went to a doctor for my stomach ache,

             And he said it could be cancer

             Which my mother killed

             By the juice of a leaf from our backyard,

             I saw you as anger;

             When I was caught up in a road rage,

             And lost a promised job,

             I saw you as frustration;

            When a developer felled

            The green cover in my neighbourhood

            For a minister’s son’s new mall,

            I saw you as greed;

           And when the only support of an old widow,

           Her only son, was killed

           By a drunk biker,

           I saw you as cruelty.

           But when my neighbour’s son

           Gave away his lunch box with a smile

          To a hungry boy at his school’s gate,

           I saw you as compassion;

           And I saw you as loyalty

           When a street puppy,

          Whom I fed once or twice,

          Jumped before a snake to shield me

          And gave up her life to poison.

          I have seen you in love,

          In friendship, in dedication, in charity,

          In forgiveness, in peace,

          And in hate, conceit, violence too,

          But I know not who you are.

           You assembled all this I see,

          And probably all I don’t as well,

          Gave them to me to live for you,

          But I rearranged them to my likes,

          And recreated myself life after life.

          Dear God, for I know not

          Any other address, I meet only you

          In whatever I do, wherever I go,

          In a pub, or a temple,

          At home, or in the wilderness;

          You chase me as a shadow,

           A far-off song, as blowing wind,

           All around me, all over me,

           Yet not me.

           I am tired now,

           I am breaking down under 

           The weight of what I am;

            Is that the way

           To become whatever I am? 

            -------------------------------

           August, 23