399 Poem by RIC BASTASA

there is a crisis in faith
because one has looked up there where the stars
are faithless themselves

their doubts are as myriad as their
twinklings
their being lost are shown with the
way they die
one by one in an explosion
that is missed by your
limited eyes

try moving inward, into the caves of your heart
where the silence of the veins
and arteries are found

where red blood of life passes
in and out of the valves without much complaint
where the heart works all its lifetime
to tell you about love
and tenderness

and care and patience and passion
to love the words of God till the end of its own time.