Ray of Light

RAY OF LIGHT

What do you do

When you've attained the shore

Of what you've been

 searching for

 

While walking along

Looking high and low

Not knowing for sure

Where to go

 

Many a sight did I see

Looking at what I thought

Was meant to be

Not realizing all along

That the place that I belonged

Was not in the direction

To which I longed

 

Like a sudden burst

A ray of light

Came within my sight

I looked up and saw

That to which I would draw

 

And now I bask in the wonder

Of the answers long alluded

To the end of a journey

Now concluded

 

This next step may take a day

Or may get carried away

And not happen

In an expected way

 

What is clear to me now

What I have been looking for

Was misdirected

And what I have found

Was unexpected

 

What now arises within

Is a certainty

that a new journey did begin

as for the future

We shall see

As I now set sail

On a new and wonderful sea

-Shiidon, January 2008

I was asked to give a presentation on the Bahá'í Faith to a group of people in Granger, a town nearby (though 50 miles away for me).  It was such a joy to share with others and to hear their thoughts as well.  Something struck me which inspired this poem.  Searching has many different levels.  For example, we can search for something we know and for something we do not know.  If we go to the grocery store to buy something but are not sure what it is we want, we can end up staying a very long time looking for that goal.  If we know what it is we are looking for, we usually can go directly to the section and select the item.  Sometimes in the search for that item, we get a clear idea of what it is we need and then follow along that new found path.  It is the same with our search for career, relationship, faith and almost anything else. 

Sometimes what we are searching for is clear and sometimes not.  It is with faith that we go step by step towards the unknown that is our future.