Bamboo Meditation

Bamboo Meditation, photo by S'zanne Reynolds

I am not lonely. God is here.
Hand at my shoulder. Word in my ear.
The Lord is the shepherd who leads me down
to quiet pools and a soft green ground.
He feeds, restores, beholds, relieves me,
Shows the right road, then precedes me.

I am not lonely. God is here.
Strength for my going. Song in my ear.

Yea, though I cross the valley of dying,
I do not fear. I am not crying.
Thy rod for the beast, thy staff for my leaning,
thou art my comfort and thou my redeeming.

Thou art my present, beginning and ending,
the oil that I feel on my forehead descending,
the goodness that follows my every endeavor,
the temple I’ll dwell in forever and ever—

O lord, I am not lonely now,
for thou art with me, my shepherd—thou!

--from Walter Wangerin’s The Book of God: The Bible As a Novel, page 194