! Metaphysical Prayer Poem by Michael Shepherd

Come to me as nameless, Lord –
and I to Thee!

come to me – I care not – as
the Brahman, Krishna, Buddha,
Adonai, Christ, Mohammed, Reason –
clothed, adored, despised,
in any of the names and forms
by which men know Thee or profess to know,
in the name of Whom they fight each other,
and thus deny Thy very self –
or as a nameless stranger, none of these -

come to me nameless, Lord –
and I to Thee..

come as One clothed in majesty;
come as a ragged beggar at my gate;
come clothed in shining white as Love;
come as a tempter full of hate;

come in the dazzling beauty of the day,
come in the orchestra of sound,
come in the velvet silence of the night;
come to me in a crowded market-place,
come to me alone among the hills,

come to me as slow as years of torture,
come to me as quick as gunshot death –
come to me as the girl next door,
come to me as Magdalen or whore;
come to me as Satan – if Thou must -

come to me as years of reading, thinking, reasoning –
as the dust blown off an ancient book;
come to me as years of yearning patience,
hours each day of kneeling or cross-legged,
come to me as years of weary factory work,
or peeling vegetables all the day;

come to me as a long-awaited friend;
come to me blooded, fierce-eyed,
as enemy to be overcome;
come to me in anger; or in submissive patience;
come to me as tragedy, or comedy, or farce…

come to me disguised as one of these,
or as many; or as none;
or best of all, Lord,
come to me disguised as all of these…

come to me in illusion or in ignorance –
then come to me at last and joyfully,
in Thy duality – Thy final secret joke:
that not until we see in us some ‘other’,
may we know there is no ‘other’ here..

come to me, then, as distant Thou
to kneel to as the universe itself;
come to me, now, as friendly You,
who lived, and live, for ever in my heart;

come to me as one or many,
come as All in all;
come, beyond all comprehension - yet
clear as writing on a wall..

come to me, O nameless Thou –
and I, myself, to me…