Hymn

I'm a religious man at dawn singing prayers with summer sparrows and believing in the sacredness of all the life that surrounds me. Sometimes, I go to church to gaze at candle flames reaching their small hands to heaven amid the sweet aroma of incense. I trust God to shield me from the noise of hate and the clatter of ingratitude, to help me make my way through pathways of confusion that would obscure the roadsigns to the city of compassion. There's a stillness along the old dirt road not far from the little lake where one can hear the souls that previously made this journey and the encouragement they offer. I don't want to change the course of armies or governments, I don't want to accrue enough wealth for my family to worship me for a hundred years after my demise; I only want to write a hymn from which the lonely can find joy as they discover their own unique beauty in the spiritual universes they traverse.