-- Who, When, What to Believe –

John Herlihy

Who, when, and in what to believe?

Do these questions merely deceive?

At first, I believed in nothing at all.

As a child, life itself held me in thrall.

Belief reared its head, a thing to want.

What is the source of life’s blessed font?

The question of belief always returned.

In mind clearly spoken, in heart burned.

In transitory life, where the belonging?

Not sorrow or regret, just quiet longing.

An emptiness felt that needed to be filled,

Mind knowledge in the heart to be instilled.

Something I didn’t know, there to be wanted.

Something I didn’t have, there to be taunted.

Then unknowing became a thing to be known,

Threads of light into the fabric of destiny sewn.

Faith a spiral staircase of stained-glass fragments

To filter perceptions of reality in unique segments

Faith the bridge from the seen to the unseen,

The world of the spirit hidden behind a screen.

Hope fades, our love sours, yet faith abides,

There in the soul where lasting truth resides.

- - - - - -

Copyright © John Herlihy

Wednesday 23 November 2022