Universal Truth
By John Herlihy

While truth is universal,
We can make it our own.
We each have our own truth,
Into our very fibers sewn.

We learn from experience,
Without actually being told,
What we claim to be true ,
What should remain untold.

While creation ex nihilo is God’s truth,
Producing the spontaneous miracle of life.
People believe in the glories of evolution,
Survival of the fittest amid earthly strife.

Truth ignites the light of the forest;
The forest’s life is not far behind.
Giving expression to Earth’s first temple,
Where light and life become intertwined.

The stars in the night sky
Display a cold, detached face.
They lend a sparkling mystery
From the remote deep of outer space.

The mountains stand stately and firm,
Enduring all weathers for their full term.
In winter, capped with pristine peaks;
Of regal majesty their presence speaks.

Flowers open their petals
Their noble faces to expose,
To the nurturing sunlight
Until the sun sets in repose.

While truth is all-encompassing,
Wrapped in a package of only One,
We break God’s truth into little pieces,
Until we have bits of a thousand and one.

The sublime artifacts of nature
Speak uniquely in one certain voice.
They profess to know only one word,
They say it again and again: Rejoice!