Hymn Poem by Uriah Hamilton

I'm a religious man at dawn
singing prayers with summer sparrows
and believing in the sacredness
of all the life that surrounds me.

Sometimes, I go to church
to gaze at candle flames
reaching their small hands to heaven
amid the sweet aroma of incense.

I trust God to shield me
from the noise of hate
and the clatter of ingratitude,
to help me make my way
through pathways of confusion
that would obscure the roadsigns
to the city of compassion.

There's a stillness
along the old dirt road
not far from the little lake
where one can hear the souls
that previously made this journey
and the encouragement they offer.

I don't want to change the course
of armies or governments,
I don't want to accrue enough wealth
for my family to worship me
for a hundred years after my demise;

I only want to write a hymn
from which the lonely can find joy
as they discover their own unique beauty
in the spiritual universes they traverse.