! ! That Word - From A Poem By Kabir Poem by Michael Shepherd

What is there to say
about that word?

Nothing. It is itself enough.

Everything. For everything springs from it;
whatever you speak, is praise of it.

Seek it. But where to seek it?

On a clear night, go outside;
see the stars of the Milky Way shimmering there.

Somewhere inside yourself, you will be near
that word.

When you have found that place
near it, guard it:

love its mystery – always beyond;
love its reality – all that springs from it;

writers write from it;
musicians sing it, play from it;
dancers dance from it;

renunciates owning nothing in their snowy caves
are full of it;

even the greedy seek it everywhere;
even disbelievers have to say it, to deny it;

we live in it, move in it, owe our being to it;
yet it means nothing to you until you seek it;

for inside that word,
everything is full of light;

there is enough of that light in one human heart
to light the whole world.

Breathe in that word;
breathe out that word.