What Kind of God?

A poem by the Indian poet Kabir (1440-1518) from translator Daniel Ladinsky’s Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West.

 

“What Kind of God?”

What kind of God would He be

if He did not hear the

bangles ring on

an ant’s

wrist 

as they move the earth

in their sweet

dance? 

And what kind of God would He be

if a leaf’s prayer was not as precious to creation

as the prayer His own son sang

from the glorious depth

of his soul–

for us.

And what kind of God would He be

if the vote of millions in this world could sway Him

to change the divine 

law of 

love

that speaks so clearly with compassion’s elegant tongue,

saying, eternally saying:

all are forgiven–moreover, dears,

no one has ever been 

guilty. 

What

kind of God would He be

if He did not count the blinks 

of your

eyes 

and is in absolute awe of their movements?

What a God–what a God we

have.