My Friend

I long to introduce you to a friend of mine

I want you to meet God

No, that doesn’t mean that I want to convert you

For a horse cannot become a sheep

Nor a rooster a parrot

And the milk that we are weaned on in our infancy

Will always taste the most natural to us

Though there are some who long to change their daily bread

To acquire a liking for foreign cuisine

It never really can replace the taste of home.

No, I don’t want to change you

You’re exactly as you were created to be

And that’s far too awe-inspiring to ever destroy

I merely wish to introduce you to a friend

Yes, a friend

A companion

Someone that I love

Not fear

For when fear enters love then it turns it sour and rancid

For love is patient and kind

Knowing not envy or boastfulness

Just like him

My friend

I want you to walk with me on the path

To see his face in the smiles of strangers

No, not those already familiar to us

After all, when Moses met the Green One

They did not come from the same town

Were not born of the same clan

Did not worship in the same temple

Instead, he had to journey to where the two seas meet

Where two worlds collide

Before he could truly learn

Not a place safe in its familiarity

Where one is securely curtained off from the dangerous others

But where all of his creation is exposed

And together

And equal

I want you to meet him in a forest

Or on a clifftop with wild waves crashing against the rocks below

Or in an ancient cave where flickering flames illuminate the veins of the living rock

You won’t find him in this bare room

Partitioned off from all that he has made by the walls of fearful man

Such places make him uncomfortable

They are not his habitat

He longs to show you the glory of his heart

The sky

The flowers

The waters

The peaks

The people

And I don’t care which language you address him in

If he’s a God worth worshipping

He’ll understand them all

But I do need you to talk

Not in set phrases

Dictated by long-dead men

But with your voice

Your thoughts

Your heart

And never with fear

Friend to friend

Woman to woman

Beloved to beloved

About those personal things you’re too scared

too embarrassed

too angry

to mention to others

Your fears for your children

Your happiness when she smiles

Those dreams that you once cherished

But long ago gave up on

The difficulties that you have in trusting others

Believing others

Loving others

Those parts of your heart that you’ve blocked off so as to numb the pain

Tell it all to him!

Shout it out!

Scream it!

Sing it!

Laugh it!

Dance it!

Cry it!

Whisper it…

For he will listen

Trust me, I know

He longs to

Meet him, please

Become friends with him

Love him

I’d like you to love me too but

If that doesn’t come about, so be it

I’ll get over it

For Moses and the Green One only walked together for a time

And Krishna danced with Radha for but a night

Even Shams left his Rumi

But if you were to stay a stranger to him

As you are now

And never to love him

Instead seeing him only as the domineering, demanding tyrant

That those who are blind and stone-hearted portray him as

Then that would kill me inside

For everyone deserves to feel the joy of the path

The smile of a stranger

The scent of the forest

The love of a friend

So please, if only for me

Be brave, step outside your room!

And come and meet my friend

Come and meet he who loves you

And who wishes to see that smile spread across your face

And joy pervade your precious soul

Written 03-04/04/2023 Chiusi della Verna & Pieve Santo Stefano, Italy

Copyright © 2023, Matthew E. Pointon