You supplanted my God,
became He to whom I begged for mercy and relief
On those fine white sands and on the rocky shores,
Deafening despair and unrelenting grief
And feeling your absence, negative of light.
I am a Jealous God, he said; the first expression on the stone.
Is that why you could not stay with me?
There was no other god. Only ever you, alone,
rendering other prayers irrelevant.
I worshipped you, bright spirit, body with my body, heart with my whole,
needed you, longed for you, soul of my soul.
There are a thousand hurts that I brooked
before you came and after you were gone
I am hollower now, resonant echoes in a spirit numb.
Now I take the blows and stand again.
Unbelieving cynic I've become.
