In God Makes the Rivers to Flow; An Anthology of the World’s Sacred Poetry & Prose, Eknath Easwaran includes a selection from Rabi’a entitled “Dawn Prayer.”  I’ve written the following poem-like reflections inspired by this selection.

O My Joy

O my Joy and my Desire and my Refuge,

            my Friend and my Sustainer and my Goal,

            Thou art my Intimate, and longing for Thee sustains me.

Were it not for Thee, O my Life and my Friend,

            how I should have been distraught

            over the spaces of the earth!

—Rabi’a

O my Joy, you make my heart light,

you fill my days with laughter and delight,

you make the candle glorious,

you make the soup worth savoring,

you make the dawn magnificent,

you make a kiss delightful.

O my Desire, you make me ache with longing,

I long to hear your voice in the morning,

I long to feel your hand against my cheek,

I long to gaze upon your radiance,

I long to smell your spicy fragrance,

I long to taste your light.

O my Refuge, you are my shelter,

you keep me safe from all who would wrong me,

you comfort my every care,

you hold me in your arms,

you meet my every need.

O my Friend, you hear my cries,

you answer my call,

you listen to the longing in my heart,

you walk with me every step of the way,

you carry me when I am weak,

you take me by the hand and lead me where I should go.

O my Sustainer, you give me bread,

you give me the fruit of the trees,

from you I harvest carrots, peas, potatoes,

brussels sprouts, cabbage, corn, parsnips,

turnips, rutabagas, squash and pumpkins,

from you I harvest everything there is to eat,

you are my pasta and my cheese,

you are my rice and beans.

O my Goal, there is nothing I desire more to know you,

to revel in my unity with you and all that is,

to breathe your breath,

to feel you beating my heart.

O my Intimate, you are closer than my neck vein,

closer than my fingers and my toes,

closer than my heart and lungs,

you occupy my body and mind,

you speak with my feelings and thoughts.

O my Life, what more could I want than you?

You are everything I say or do.

You are the places that I go.

You are the people that I see.

You are all there is to me.

You are my home.