Looking For God

I went looking for God
in grandest cathedral,
in splendour of gold,
and crosses and statues
and rooves overwhelming
and priests ever-damning
and nuns ever-loving,
so wishing the children would learn
and be good…..

I went looking for God
in a golden dome,
where the mullahs were wailing
and people loud-hailing
their message, devotion
their women in headscarves
their young ones a-dreaming
seventy two virgins
if only, if only….

I went looking for God
in temple of ages,
of people forsaken
and praying, oh praying
that tomorrow might bring peace,
that they might be known,
that their children may die no more…..

I went looking for God,
I fasted, I chanted,
I shut my eyes tight,
I crossed my legs hurting,
my brain ever-reaching
for light ever-distant……

I searched East, I searched West,
above and below,
my time and my will
was no longer my own…

But do you know where I found God?

I sat on a hilltop
and felt the wind beckon,
I breathed the Divine in the trees
and the earth and the sweet-scented
breeze of the autumnal haze…..
I gave up all searching
and sat in the middle
of hustle and bustle,
and felt the sweet stillness
unfolding before me……

I walked through the chaos
and saw a hand outstretched
a haunted-eyed face
in a desolate scene.
And in those ragged eyes
I saw God looking back at me,
unmistakable mirror
of my own sweet divinity…..

I looked into my heart
saw my sweet, gentle child,
felt my energy sweep through my chakras,
expand from my crown…..
And God lived in the joy and the bliss
that followed my days full of love….

When I stopped looking for God
I realised
that wherever I looked
there it was.

And it was Love.