In God Makes the Rivers to Flow; An Anthology of the World’s Sacred Poetry & Prose, Eknath Easwaran includes a selection from Kabir entitled “The Temple of the Lord.” I’ve written the following poem-like reflections inspired by this selection.
The Saints
As fragrance is in the flower,
So is the Lord within thee.
But He reveals Himself in His beloved Saints;
That is all you need to know. Go forth and meet them.
—Kabir
Deep in the caves they have meditated for ages.
In churches and synagogues and temples they say their prayers.
At night they light their candles.
In the morning they meet the dawn.
At the soup kitchens they serve the hungry.
They invite the homeless into their homes.
They buy new clothes and school supplies for children who don’t have any of their own.
Some of them live on alms.
Some of them work hard for a living.
They all serve.
Their eyes are warm and loving and deep and ageless.
They know secrets they can’t put words to, but they try.
What they say emits a fragrance, sweet as a rose.
We do not understand.
They try to tell us that God dwells within each and every one of us.
Yes, we say, we’ve heard that one before.
Take it in, they say, take it in deeper. Know thyself. Know the Lord within.
And we say our children need feeding, clothing, watching.
We say we’ve got work to do.
They say, yes, there is work to do. Do it with the deepest love.
We do our best, we say, but the children just won’t behave.
And there is so much danger in the world.
We can’t trust strangers. We never know what they could do.
And those Republicans! And those Democrats!
Look what their doing to the world.
If only we were in charge, we’d teach them the way things should be.
And did you hear that Sally’s having an affair with her boss?
And can you believe what Ricky said?
How can Jane let her daughter go outside looking like that?
The service at Frankie’s just isn’t any good.
And the saints say, we’ve thought like you.
We don’t blame you one bit.
But take a few minutes every day to look within.
Find the love within your soul.
Find the Lord.
When you find Him you’ll know.
Because everywhere you look He’ll be there.
And everyone will smell like roses.
