Places in the Heart

"There are places in the heart that do not yet exist;
  suffering has to enter in for them to come to be".

[Leon Bloy]

God in heaven

      Watching you and me

God in heaven

      Is sad as he can be.

                ~

The hurt we feel

      Does pierce His heart

But the hurt we feel

      Is just a part

Of the hurt inside His heart.

               ~

God feels our pain

      And others' too

It may be feeling hurt

      Is all He gets to do.

              ~

The world he made

      Has gone astray

So sad he feels

      To see what people do and say.

              ~

So sad is He

      That He's depressed

That He's worn out

      And sad as death.

              ~

Perhaps our God

      Is like us too

That when He's sad

      And feeling blue,

He cannot even tie his shoe.

              ~

Perhaps He lies

      In bed all day

And can't make hay

      Or even play.

              ~

Perhaps these hurts

      He feels

Are such,

      He can't do much.

             ~

He can't get up,

      Get dressed, get food

And all He does

      Is lie in bed - and brood.

             ~

The worries that A God can have

So heavy, heavy do they weigh

      That He's depressed,

      That He's inert

For all the long of a Godly day.

             ~

He may need help

      But cannot call

Who's thought that

      God needs help at all?

             ~

It makes me very sad to think

      That God's so hurt and lonely

      (And no one thinks of this at all)  

That nothing does He get to do,

      But suffer only.

             ~

To suffer for eternity

      In hopes the world will change

And all He gets for this

      Is hopes and prayers and

Curses for the things he doesn't arrange.

             ~

I don't think I would like to be

A God like this - who cries all day 
And sees all pain

      And suffers still

      And still again

And suffers every, every day

And feels our pain in every way.

             ~

It's bad enough

For me to know

That suffering

That has brought you low.

            ~

If I had had to know - What He has seen and felt

I don't think I could bear to know

And feel - and still go on.

            ~

I'd get depressed and cry all day

And feel so sad - in a Holy way

And I'd give up and say:

      "I'm tired of being God this way!"

            ~

I'm tired of knowing all the woes

       And all the hurts and all the pain;

I'm sick to death of suffering.

       Please can't I die?

And not go through all this again?

            ~

But God can't die

He only lives

For all eternity

Alone and sad, a whole world's pain

He bears for you and me.

            ~

I could go on - in the middle of the night

Telling you all about God's plight.

Like I, He cannot sleep

So sad is He, so sad, so deep.

            ~

Imagine being god

      Where day and night

      Without surcease

He watches all our sufferings

      And takes them in His heart

And can do nothing more - That is his part.

            ~

So when you're sad - and He can't help

           At least you're in - His suffering heart.

1-31-94

Written for one who suffered much.
Dedicated to all who suffer without comprehension.

I have learned a little - in my work - of Divine Compassion:
Love for - and with - those who suffer.
This suffering love, in which I have participated,
This compassion, which has enlarged my heart,
I cannot call it "mine" alone.
It teaches me - from whence it comes.