The Temple

in the temple yesterday i felt god 

i only feel god in between profoundness lately

god has been subtle and inconspicuous 

god is between the seasons 

god is in my mother's laugh

my mom seldom laughs with her entire stomach 

i look at my mom and i wonder how this is the same woman i knew at infancy 

this is the same person but am i that same person?

am i that innocent slab of newness? 

in the temple yesterday i felt god

my close friend, my sister on the earth, she cried 

she sobbed and looked at Buddha's face

i felt god and it wasn't the god they introduced me to 

praying and praying for things to fast forward 

i remember my childhood room

i had two of them

a room for each parent

neither of those spaces belonged to me

and when you are a child

it is important to feel that something belongs to you

anything 

in the temple yesterday i felt god

when i walked through the holy place

soaking in every alter 

i saw love

food left out because the gods get hungry, too

incense burning in hopes of requited wishes and dreams lift with the smoke

when i see the Buddha's face

i know every answer laying on my heart

all i need is to sit in a temple with someone who loves me

and sob for ourselves 

relinquish hurt and hold each other's suffering 

when we suffer together, we mend 

i want people to mend with

god, alone, it doesn't feel like enough

it isn't profound enough

i saw god in the temple yesterday

there was no mirror there but i know what i saw 

i saw god i saw god 

in the temple yesterday