Seeing Without Reach

i saw God today

languished against a filthy wall in a back alley

    alone and barren of spirit

enthusiasm wet His lips as

    alcohol fired His throat.

He said nothing; figured no one would hear what He had to say

        nor take what He had to offer

unaware i was ready and willing to receive

    but i did not know how to communicate with Him.

 

i saw God today

She cowered in a deserted doorway, invisible in Her actions

filled Her needle with prayers

tightened Her divine trappings injected Her arm

    replaced the worship of the old tradition,

        ancestral voices echoed inside her head

She lived in secondhand ecstasy, Her forgottenness.

She spoke to Herself; she did not know i could understand

        but i did not know how to meet Her.

 

I saw God today

Splayed across the sky as the sun rises

    a timelessness forgotten in daily schedules

humankind asleep to the birth of this day's mystery

I knew how to communicate with my eyes,

my heart, and my pen.