This Is My Temple

                        by Lisa Okon

                        This is my temple

                        Here we have spent many deep slow hours

                        Becoming as one.

                        Here I was reborn

                        In this room of shadows and light

                        This is my temple

Here you became the air I breathe, filling me.

                        You are the sweat that bathes my skin

                        In the summer heat

                        You are the fresh breeze that strokes me

                        This is my temple

                        Here I have learned to see all that is around me.

                        I find your face in all faces

                        Your voice in all voices

                        And they are music

                        This is my temple

                        I have traveled over great distances to meet you

                        And many years

                        Wandering through vast desert spaces

                        Of meaninglessness

                        This is my place of peace

                        In the purr of motors, the roar of engines, the clamor of machinery

                        I can sleep in silence.

                        I open my eyes and you lead me by the hand                       

                        Into wakefulness

                        In this place of love and lust

                        You have invited me to enter you

                        And I have responded

                        Living with my obsession

                        Awake in my dream of life

                        But as they demolish the houses of our neighbors

                        Let them demolish too this temple

                        For these words are only scattered markings in the sand

                        Scratched by a baby with his stick

                        Or footprints made by bathers

                        To be washed away by the sea