Faith, the Knowledge of the Soul

Today I walked on barren sands

Where windswept trees clung to rocks

Older than the pyramids,

Seeking sustenance from soil

In the burning of the day.

I wandered in my arid mind

Unable to recall the source

From which this present life had sprung.

Once in the time of blazing youth

I questioned and I sought for clues,

Some light to shed on the mystery

To solve the riddle of this world.

Now fifty winters have passed me by

And all I asked was given me,

Answers one by one revealed

In the sanctum of the soul.

The golden path to me was shown

And the promise of my destiny.

But the toll of years has dulled the fire

That once has burned so fierce and bright

And now in a nebulous universe

Compass lost, the Way obscured,

I tread my way alone and ask,

ÔWhere now is the sincerity,

The aspiration of the heart,

Patience to outlast the storm

Or weather the dryness and deceit

Of one's own nature in revolt,

The will to suffer silently,

The stillness and the calm reserve,

Faith, the knowledge of the soul?'