God's Back Poem by gershon hepner

Of God the only part that we can paint,
because we truly lack
the vision of a prophet or a saint:
the bareness of His back.

In humans artists mainly choose to draw
what most attracts: the face.
But God conceals His visage, and His law
reveals an empty space.

God’s face looks at the present and the past;
the future, unrevealed,
remains, a work in progress like a plaster cast,
behind His back concealed.

7/3/03,5/7/07