Ode To Houses Of Worship Poem by john tiong chunghoo

my heart just refuses to be bound
i walk into the hindu temple
to savour the myriad manifestations
of the formless God, who can take any form

i walk into a buddhist temple
knowing that all the manifestations
wont help us one bit if we dont help ourselves
to heaven, nirvana, syurga, tiang tang
God can be a wine we lose our mind in
if we do not take him in the right way
whom we go to favours without fail
draining the blood of a thousand animals
in the mad scamble for favours in this sin laden realm
forgetting the task to liberate ourselves
buddha's wise dharma has brought us to our senses
that the soul is our responsibility and ours alone God or no God
and animals cannot walk us to God
if we dont even have a heart for them

I walk into a Christian Church
knowing that the love of God knows no bound
that as much as we sacrifice for him
he too would be ready to sacrifice for us

i walk into a mosque
knowing that there is but One God
a formless Spirit that dwells in us all
that listens and talks to us day in day out
dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn anywhere, any time
that all the earth can be burnt down to
just one simple thing - ash
because we all come from one source,
one nature and One God

i walk away with an open heart
knowing that i have read all the scriptures
with an open heart, knowing that if the heart is closed
to words of love, of kindness, to men to animals
that if i have a heart closed to all these
heaven's doors too will be close when i am there