I See My God

I see my God

In everything I see

Around me, within me

And even in what I do not see -

Just perceive

I see my God in the birth of a flower bud

Unfurling petal by petal into glorious blossom

I see my God in the myriad hued butterfly

That springs open its wings from its pupa

--- Flitting from flower to flower

     Tasting the nectar of sweet life---

I see my God in a fallen leaf

Turning brown with decay

Disappearing into the earth

I hear my God in the voice of early morning birdsong

Incessantly, insistently crying

Day break, day break, day break -

I see my God in the faltering step

Of feeble age when evening shadows fall

Proclaiming the death of another day

I see my God in a stone lying by the wayside

In a tree with its spreading branches

My God gazes at me

From the eyes of a street dog

I see my God in the wide eyed gaze

Of a laughing child

I feel my God in the monsoon breeze

In the billowing rain-clouds

I hear my God’s gentle footsteps

In the patter of life-giving rain

I hear my God’s terrifying voice

In the crack of lightning

That rips open the skies

---the crashing roar of thunder

That envelopes the earth

The devastating power of the unseen

Unleashed in a thunderstorm

In the quake of the earth

In the destruction of a distant star

I sense my God in the endless swish-swish-swish

Of the sea lapping the sands of the shore

The salt of the sea breeze

The endless surging and ebbing of tides

I feel my God in the light that awakens

The earth each morning

In the darkness that engulfs

The earth each night

I see my God in the dim light

Of a moon beam filtering through

Gathering clouds 

Of the stars that come out at night

Speaking of countless worlds

The countless swirling galaxies

Of suns, planets, moons, and stardust

That make up the Universe

I see my God in you, I see my God in me

I see my God in the fullness of everything

I see my God in the emptiness of nothing

Most of all I sense my God

Within my soul

In every breath I take

In every heartbeat

That pulses through me

And when life has fled me

Silencing my breath, stilling my heartbeat

Into that God who is beyond this Universe

I will merge

Becoming the fullness of everything

Becoming the emptiness of nothing

Maybe to remain in nothing

Maybe to re-awaken into everything

God is creation, conception

God is decay, destruction

God is rebirth, resurrection

- Rita Putatunda