They saw the empty space I left,
The pew unfilled, the rites bereft.
Heard silence where the hymns once soared,
And whispered low, “He’s lost the Lord.”
Their faces etched with kind concern,
For lessons they believed I’d spurn.
They saw the structure fall away,
And feared my Soul had gone astray.

But oh, the Truth they could not see,
That structure had imprisoned me.
The walls I fled were built so high,
They blocked the sun, they veiled the sky.
In stepping out, I stepped within,
Where true Devotion could begin.

Not lost, but found in wind and loam,
In whispers of my Spirit’s home.
Not faithless, but immersed in Faith,
That breathes in every single wraith
Of mist on hills, of Light on leaves,
A Truth the heart alone perceives.

I found the echo, deep and true,
The mystic’s call, forever new:
That ‘I’ dissolves into the All,
Responding to Life’s silent call.
This sacred Self, this spark Divine,
So intimately yours and mine.

No separation, wall, or break,
Just Oneness for the Spirit’s sake.
In every face, in star, in stone,
A Love I’d never truly known.
The Mystery, vast, undefined,
Became the solace of my mind.

So let them think my faith has fled,
Their worried words be left unsaid.
I shed the skin, but kept the Soul,
And found myself completely Whole.
Not lost to God, but found in Grace –
The boundless Love that fills all space.
My church, the world; my creed, to Be;
At last, the Spirit truly free.