Explore Divine Poetry Across Faiths

None shall hinder thy forward course,

For I guide thy steps.

Place thy hand in Mine and walk with Faith.

Where I am, there is no ill.

Fear not, but walk forward with faith.

Light will come;

For Wherever I am, there is light.

My touch will kindle hope in thy heart.

I shall reside in thy soul as peace.

My love will fill thee with bliss.

Fear not, but walk forward with faith.

My hand is thy safety.

-Swami Paramananda (1884-1940)

Glory be to God for dappled things 

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;

And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

-Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

O Thou, unmasked, unceasing Giver

Thou hast given me Thy endless blessing,

Thou hast drawn me close to Thy heart,

Thy bounty runs through my life to overflowing.

Yea, tender Lord, by Thy magic charm

Thou hast driven away my past wretchedness.

Can we, with our might, offer Thee aught worth in

Thy blessed sight?

Can we ever make our hearts so free of earthly stain that

Thy light of love may shine and glow unceasingly?

Thou art ever merciful to the lowly;

We bring Thee our humble hearts.

No merit have we, save our faith in

Thine infinite compassion.

Do Thou make of us Thy tools that at all hours,

in work and play

We may revolve in Thy safe-keeping.

-Swami Paramananda (1884-1940)

I have not come to Your door

to ask for joy or happiness

I do not ask to be bathed

in Light or immersed in bliss

I am not asking that anything in my life

or in the universe be changed

I come asking that You allow me

just to be present with You

In this moment, if only for a moment

Let me be present only with You

-Gordon Burnham

Within this earthen vessel are bowers and groves,

and within it is the Creator:

Within this vessel are the seven oceans

and the unnumbered stars.

The touchstone and the jewel-appraiser are within;

And within this vessel the Eternal soundeth,

and the spring wells up.

Kabir says:

"Listen to me, my Friend!

My beloved Lord is within."

-Kabir (15th century poet and mystic)

In the market, in the cloister – only God I saw.

In the valley and on the mountain – only God I saw.

Him I have seen beside me oft in tribulation;

In favor and in fortune – only God I saw.

In prayer and fasting, in praise and contemplation,

In the religion of the Prophet – only God I saw.

Neither soul nor body, accident nor substance,

Qualities nor causes – only God I saw.

I opened mine eyes and by the light of his face around me

In all the eye discovered – only God I saw.

Like a candle, I was melting in his fire.

Amidst the flames, outflashing – only God I saw.

Myself with mine own eyes I saw most clearly,

But when I looked with God’s eyes – only God—I saw.

I passed away into nothingness, I vanished,

And lo, I was the All-living – only God I saw.

-Baba Kuhi of Shiraz (10th-11th century, Sufi mystic and poet)

Another morning and I walk with thirst

for the goodness I do not have. I walk

out to the pond and all the way God has

given us such beautiful lessons. Oh Lord,

I was never a quick scholar but sulked

and hunched over my books past the

hour and the bell; grant me, in your

mercy, a little more time. Love for the

earth and love for you are having such a

long conversation in my heart. Who

knows what will finally happen or

where I will be sent, yet already I have

given a great many things away, expecting

to be told to pack nothing, except the

prayers which, with this thirst, I am

slowly learning.

Mary Oliver (1935 - 2019)

Silence my soul

these trees are prayers.

I asked the tree,

"Tell me about God;"

then it blossomed.

-Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

I do not ask Thee, Mother,

Riches, good fortune, or salvation;

I seek no happiness, no knowledge.

This is my only prayer to Thee:

That as the breath of my life forsakes me,

I may chant Thy holy name.

-Shankara (c. 788-820)

On many an idle day have I grieved over lost time.

But it is never lost, my lord.

Thou hast taken every moment of my life in thine own hands.

Hidden in the heart of things, thou art nourishing

seeds into sprouts, buds into blossoms,

and ripening flowers into fruitfulness.

I was tired and sleeping on my idle bed and imagined

all work had ceased. In the morning I woke up and found my garden full of wonders of flowers.

-Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

Unto the deep the deep heart goes,

It lays its sadness nigh the breast:

Only the Mighty Mother knows

The wounds that quiver unconfessed.

It seeks a deeper silence still;

It folds itself around with peace,

Where thoughts alike of good or ill

In quietness, unfostered cease.

It feels in the unwounding vast

For comfort for its hopes and fears:

The Mighty Mother bows at last;

She listens to her children’s tears.

Where the last anguish deepens—there

The fire of beauty smites through pain:

A glory moves amid despair,

The Mother takes her child again.

-George William Russel (1867-1935)