“But what is it that I love when I love You? Not the beauty of any bodily thing, nor the order of seasons, not the brightness of light that rejoices the eye, nor the sweet melodies of all songs, nor the sweet fragrance of flowers and ointment and spices….Yet in a sense I do love light and melody and fragrance and food and embrace when I love my God…And what is this God? I asked the earth and it answered: ‘I am not He’.”
- Augustine, Confessions Book 10
I asked the earth
And it answered
“I am not He”
I asked the wind
And it escaped through
My fingertips like brushstrokes
“I am not She”
I followed the moon until
It was high past the light
That rejoiced in my eye
And I asked it then and it pointed
To the shadows that it left on the ground
Like ancient photographs
And I asked them also
But they waved their heads and said
“Not us”
Where can I find You?
Beneath a castle
In a mirror
Above a picture
Inside a sea shell
In a story
Yes, in a story
In which You said
“I am He”
(And Judas the traitor
was standing there with them.)
John 18:5
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