POEM: Seminary

Seminary

I was warned by those who love me
They pray for my salvation with concern
I misunderstood their apprehension
Yet hoped they’d understand my will to learn

Consumed by this passionate obsession
Suspicious of tradition’s claims
Trusting those who voice their doubts and live the questions
What force attracts me to the strange?

Convinced that vital work is taking place in these halls
Faith kept me strong when hope grew dim
I came to find ways to protect and understand
those I was taught we must condemn

Purify me from all fear and superstition!
I come only for the truth!
Reappraising the doctrines I was given
Until I find convincing proof

Would I know it when I find it?
Or is it too elusive to pin down?
Is it heresy to seek the truth…
or to deny it once it’s found?

Something compels me to keep pushing,
but is this pathway worth the risk?
Having bit the fruit there’s no return
to my previous state of bliss

Haunted by regrets, yet still believing
that life will yet unfold
ever-evolving revelation,
we investigate what is not known

I don’t pretend to read God’s mind
or detect any divine purpose or plan
And I don’t have a lot of confidence
In those that think they can

My native language now sounds foreign
Yet the strangeness seems sincere
I came searching for encounters
Believing something holy led me here

Exploring the depths of myself and others
Intrigued by undiscovered lands
But even the familiar contain mysteries
that would take lifetimes to understand

What hidden things exist beyond our knowing?
I feel like something grows within
Consumed by my restless searching
Knowing it will never end