I have known the confident loyalty of followers,
Seeking the brilliant beauty of Buddha's benevolence,
The sagely sayings of Confucian thought,
The echoing chants of Muhammad's revelations,
The glorious masses of prayerful saints,
El Shaddai's promised lands of milk and honey,
And the neighbourly teachings of the celebrated Son,
All to understand their role in the cosmos.
And I have seen samaritans with hearts black as sin,
And the wretched bathed in auras pure as gold,
The child wiser in truth, the frightened braver in peril,
The lost with clearer sight, the deaf with open ears,
In eager exaltation of every conviction.

Rights & Access

This poem was submitted for the "Poetry for the Mind's Joy" project and is reproduced here with permission from the author. All rights reserved. Poetry for the Mind's Joy is Poet Laureate Kay Ryan's project that includes a community college poetry contest administered by the Community College Humanities Association and a lively videoconference.
  • Lissa Ledbetter

    Tulsa Community College, Tulsa, OK

    Faculty Advisor: Mike Cross