QUOTE
Perhaps I have no God- what does it matter?
I have beautify and joy and transcending loneliness,

I have the beginning of love - as beautiful as it
is feeble - as free as it is human.

I have the mountains that whisper secrets
held before men could speak,

I have the ocean that etches life on
the beach and caresses it in the sand,

I have a friend who smiles when he see
me, who weeps when he hears my pain,

I have a future full of surprises, a
present full of wonder

I have no past - the steps have disappeared
the wind has blown them away.

I stand in the Heavens and on earth,
I feel the breeze in my hair,

I can drink to the North Star and shout
on a bar stool,

I can feel the teeth of a hangover, the
joy of laziness,

The flush of my own rudeness, the surge of
my own ineptitude.

And I can know my own gentleness as well
my wonder, my nobility

I sense the call of creation, I feel its
swelling in my jaws.

I can lust and love, eat and drink, sleep
And rise,

But my easy God is gone - and in his stead
the mystery of loneliness and love!

From Leaving the Fold p. 180