Today, I wish to introduce a rising star of letters and a poignant wordsmith, Paul Lanman. In the coming months, I shall be sharing more of his profoundly beautiful work.
A Poem by Paul Lanman
I would like to share a poem I am just finishing. My inspiration was the picture of the body of the Syrian child, Aylan, lying on the beach that made global headlines recently. I consider myself to be a very spiritual person, but not attached to any specific religious group.. I was so deeply affected by that single photo, that I wondered how God, in the conventional sense, would feel looking down on the present state of his creation.
Oh Foolish Man...
What abominations hast thou committed in my Name?
I bestowed upon thee, and thine, the gift of life,
And the gift of infinite fatherly love!
I set thee, in the center of a paradise true.
Fashioned by the work of mine own loving hands,
For thou alone! And yet, thou hast, brought naught
But desolation, to this thine home, and to thy kind!
I weep the despondent tears of a grieving Father.
As mine eyes look down upon the hollow souls,
Thou hast become, in thy greed, and thy lust for power.
I fashioned thy kind, in love and reason!
Yet thou manifest neither in thy thoughts, nor actions!
I have sent to thee, many enlightened ones,
Since your first generations, seen as prophets, and teachers
They came to thee to plead, in my loving name,
To correct thy crooked and evil course!
Then thou takest their words of love and goodness,
And twist their meaning to fit thine own evil deeds!
Thou hast become a such a bitter taste in my mouth.
And my love for thee, is shaken to the very core!
But for, the flickering torch of love, I dimly still see,
Amongst those few, whose struggling glow, yet prevails.
Like weakly burning embers, nearly lost in the black ashes
Of the fire of desolation, thou hast chosen to follow!
I would cleanse thy fouled garden with fire
And all the darkness that walks within!
But it is yet my hope! That the winds of righteousness
Might yet rise up, and fan thy burning embers to life.
To become once more, thy great flame of pure love and light.
As a beacon to thee, to walk in the light of truth, and
To Love one another, just as thy Father has loved thee!