A Prayer!...

Where are You, my God — where are You...
The sun set, and the moon climbed from behind the lofty mountains and sent its silver rays over nature, lighting the barren lands, the meadows, and the valleys.
I sat silent before this enchanting scene, and behold, I was swimming in a sea of fancies and imaginings, heedless of everything.
I contemplated nature and said: Glory to the Creator who fashioned beauty. I turned my gaze from the earth and listened a while to the depths of my heart, and behold, I am like a lost boat, buffeted by the waves, the wild winds storming at its sides...
My Lord, everything around me is full of happiness and bliss and beauty — why then am I sorrowful, alone? My Lord, why?

My God, why did You create me? Nay — where are You, my God???
I searched for You in the caves and the grottoes, and I asked after You of the refreshing breeze that caresses the branches of the wood.
I called out Your name, humbled, before the tombs and the temples, the cities and the villages — but I did not find You, my God...

...My Lord, do You feel my pain and my longing? Do You know my lament and my moaning? Do You listen to the desires of my soul?...

Answer me, my God. Ease my pain and tell me how I may walk toward You. Answer me — where are You...
Are You hidden in the recesses of my soul? Do You stand upon the high summits? Or on the slopes of the mountains, or in the depths of the valleys — or in them all?...
Have mercy, my God...

...I am the lyre of midnight — but a lyre that has lost one of its strings. I am a bell pealing the melodies of devotion and of love — but fearful in the vast wastes. I am a hymn rising in the dark nights...
Have mercy, my God. Light my path, and open the windows of my soul upon the light, upon the radiance...