Anonymous Poem

What is man?
Is he anything?
Wading into a sea of discontent,
There is but an ocean of emptiness.
Wandering in a wilderness of loneliness,
Ascending the mountain of sorrow.
Where will he go?
There is nothing.
There is no one.
The rain of suffering falls,
Pounding him into submission.
Where can he go?
What can he do
To escape this horrifying deluge
Of doubt and despair?
Is there anyone out there?

Seeking, searching, groping
In the darkness of the long night
For meaning, for reality, for anything.
What can he say?
“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,”
Is his weary cry.
Shadows consume and death surrounds
This weary traveler.
He is told,
“Do what is right in your heart,”
But all he finds is evil there.
He wants more, he desires more.
Where shall he turn?
What shall he do?

He gazes across a plain of desolation
And feels his hopelessness rising.
In desperation, he turns his eye upward.
Looking to the heavens,
He makes his complaint.
“Why” is the only word that comes to his lips.
He screams and shouts, full of sound and fury.
As his words die into the night,
He suddenly realizes a light.
A light that seems so small
Almost unreal
Until it fills the heavens.
Slowly then quickly the light descends.

The traveler awaits the light
As it comes ever so close.
Finally, with the light before him,
The man repeats his question, “Why?”
Only then does he notice that the light is a Man.
He looks at the traveler with joy and sorrow.
Simply, almost gently, the One says, “I AM.”
The traveler realizes that night has turned to day.
He can see everything, everyone.
Before him is beauty,
The plain of pleasure spreads out in every direction.
The rain has turned
To soft, warm, cheerful, spring wind.
The mount of joy extends upward.
The wilderness sings to him.
The waters he sees are full of contentment and satisfying.

What is man?
He is loved.
He will journey across the plain of pleasure.
He will enjoy the light of day.
He will ascend the mountain of joy.
He will enter the wilderness with his guide.
He will explore the ocean of meaning
And sail the sea of satisfaction.
The One in the light
Will lead him.
The traveler no longer gropes
As one in darkness,
But he has the Light of Truth and Meaning.
Despair is now joy,
Fear is now hope,
Hate is now love.

What is man?
Ask the Man,
The One in the light.
He knows.
He will tell you,
Exactly what he told me.
“I AM.”