On God & Religion

Shahriar Shahriari

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Short Poems

Poems - On God & Religion - Group 1
On the Prophets

Moses

Easter

Thus Spake Zarathushtra

The River Ganges

Believe

Moses

Born of Hebrew blood, I understand
In time for Pharaoh's command
To put down every Hebrew son
New born, not one could run.

He was yet another common child
Small, fragile, innocent, mild;
Yet for greatness he was destined
To rule the desert, the sea and the wind.

Unnamed, floated for a while
Plucked by a Princess from the Nile
For God protects chosen men
Safe and sound in lion's den.

A prince he grew, strong and kind
Handsome, courageous, a sharp mind
Master of his nation's health
Power, charisma, peace and wealth.

About to become the next Pharaoh
Only a disaster could stop him now
And then the destined hour to know
Where he was born, where he grow

The deep drive to know the root
The destiny of the fruit
The Prince rejected kingship
To embrace his kinship

Mastery and power he let go
Kingdom of Egypt, he said no
What courage, what power
To reject all in an hour.

Former Prince, a Hebrew slave
To learn, understand, behave
To die to so much worldly good
Accept thirst, pain, humility for food.

But God keeps destined men well
Even in the darkest depths of hell
Hunger, pain, sickness, abuse
Experience, feel, don't refuse.

Tempered by hot sun and stinging lashes
The soul's alchemy turned his dross to ashes
The pure gold emerged compassionate, wise
Ready to lead, against oppression rise.

But to replace one mastery with another
Need not go through such pain and bother
His destiny was stronger than all Egypt
Surrender was needed, even to the crypt.

He had no choice, was lead by compulsion
His faith strong, his only propulsion
For to return was to undo his fate
Himself to deceive in this hour late.

And to go on into the desert was sure death
By the burning sun and dry dust, breath by breath.
But the Prince of Egypt had faith untold
Step by step he went on, courageous, bold

And step by step, day and night
Through the dark night and hot desert white
Until he could walk not one step more
Torn, dry, hungry, fell to the desert floor

To God and angel of death he surrendered
But a stray ram, God's promise remembered
The searching shepherd found the ram by Prince's head
Gave him water, to food and life the Prince was lead.

In his surrender to death and life and God
He embraced God as his shepherd, staff and rod
For his surrender was true alchemy
Even unto death and then was set free.

For though a great spirit, and destined too
The ways of this world in which he grew
He learnt and understood, then must display
Detachment, surrender, faith, night and day.

Only then the Prince for greatness was ready
Spirit of God would keep his vessel steady
Such displays as the devouring snake and turning the Nile red
Parting the Red Sea, then closing it upon soldiers head.

And each of us is a prince of Egypt and more
Destined for greatness, able to fly and soar
But from fear, we are let upon our Nile
Only to be saved on the safe shore with guile

Grow to master worldly skills
The baker bakes, the farmer tills,
But comes the time we long to know
Whence do we come, why thus grow?

Only to find we are spirits in a material world
Weak, strong, black, white, young, old
Then if we die to the old ways of life
We transform, experience pain and strife

Struggle long till we learn to surrender
Trust in God, even if death the sole remainder
And if we die, who knows, we may simply die
Else it is not surrender, only a fake promise, a lie.

As spirits we cannot choose otherwise
For to do so is worse than demise.
For once we see, we may ignore, forget or pretend
But to unsee, never, the straight cannot bend;

Once understood, we can interpret, twist and turn
But to un-understand cannot be, how can fire unburn.
And so it is the choice of the spirit and soul
To compulsively move on, forge ahead whole;

Only then can greatness of God show
Through us the love of God shall flow
The winds of time in our favor will blow
Like the Prince of Egypt, we'll glow
We'll move mountains, high and low
Learn, live, love, in spirit grow.

© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
March 23, 1997

Easter

They say he knew of his fall
He bore his cross and all
In humility walked the path
Though it lead to fearful wrath
For he knew his Father's will
And he bore none no ill
He resisted not his end
For he knew he would ascend.

In pain and blood he walked
To insults and shouts he gently talked.
They nailed him to the wood
With criminals he stood
For hours on the cross
To mankind what a loss
His life was then no more
His spirit did then soar.

His body in a cave
His disciples so brave
He died then resurrected
The cross was thus erected
A symbol of divine
His spirit may be mine
He taught us much, he knew
That death will free us too.

For in the life we live
If we simply forgive
And let go of all that is
And holding on we cease,
We too can bear our cross
And burn and purge our dross
Surrender to our Father's will
Watch, listen, feel, be still.

And when we hear God's command
We act, and understand
God's plan is the best
It outshines all the rest
This not our mortal test
For thus we are blest.
And onto death we go
Head high, brave, we know.
For only death will free us
Resurrect our soul and see us
To the path of joy and glory
With courage, without worry.
Our bodies alive or dead
Our souls will transcend
And bodies dead or living
Immortally glowing, giving.

© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
March 28, 1997

Thus Spake Zarathushtra

Zarathushtra the Sage
Of that ancient age

Said Righteousness is the best
Just forget the rest.

Sing Ashem Vohu
This I say to you,

Righteousness is Bliss
That is all that is.

But be Right and Good,
That is all you would,

Not for the rewards,
Small and large awards,

But for goodness' sake,
Then you will awake.

All else will follow,
Reward and bliss will flow.

Pray Yatha Ahu
Embody it too,

Model after God
Does it seem that odd?

You are God's creatures
Divine and Good features

Zarathushtra your teacher
You become his preacher.

Choose to serve God's will
You are sure to feel

Power, Love divine
God earth, you the vine

In light and love grow
Wholeheartedly know

Serve the one in need
Shelter, clothe and feed

Are sure to succeed
If thus you proceed.

Zarathushtra thus spake
Taught us, helped us wake,

God's divine emanations
Are what form the nations

On earth and heaven too
And this Zarathushtra knew.

God uses the Good Mind
Creates and makes bind

First is the perfect plan
This is how God began

Then the operating Law
The software called Asha

God then got to action
To God's satisfaction

With perfect faith and love
In, out, beneath, above,

Thus God made perfection
Smiled at God's creation

For it was deathless too
Immortally it grew.

And we are all God's creatures
We possess the same features

Like God thus we must act
And this is divine fact.

But we also have choice
To express and voice

What we think is best
For us and the rest.

Best ear listen, hear
Best mind think clear

Before a choice you make
For consequence can break

Ignorance causes evil
God knows there's no devil.

So my friend, companion
Heed Zarathushtra's opinion

What we sow, we shall reap
In small or endless heap

So choose to renew the world
By Zarathushtra we are told,

Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds
In this life perfection breeds.

In this world heaven, hell
Our choices fountain, swell

The next, union divine
Can be yours and mine

So let's choose God's plan
Let's begin where God began.

© Shahriar Shahriari
March 1997,
Vancouver, Canada.

The River Ganges

In Varanasi, the holiest city on earth
Spiritual wealth amidst material dearth,
The river Ganges flowing slow
Pilgrims bathing in its flow;
Burning their dead upon the banks
Commit the ashes to river with thanks,
Except for the sage and child
For their souls are meek and mild,
With heavy rocks weigh them down
And their corpses in Ganges drown.

Early morning after sunrise
I saw this scene with my own eyes:
A father carrying his dead baby
What he went through, I could guess, maybe;
Wrapped in rags put his baby down
Tied it to a rock, carried it in his gown
And calmly in a boat he sat
On the river, calm and flat,
An oarsman rowed on the river
To the middle, them deliver.
The father lifted his baby up
Into the river gently drop,
And then the two men came back
Within their boat, their load lack
The father stepped on the shore
Returned to life just as before.

This scene affected me much
Though pained my heart, my soul did touch
The father lived with much courage
Equanimity erased his rage;
He was glad that like a sage
His baby's soul had left its cage.
What an outlook, what spirit
Death could never this man defeat.
Through the toughest pain of the soul
This man carried his heart and whole,
For him life is a temporal cage
Some die young, others of age.
Now his baby's soul was free
As for his own, he'd wait and see.

© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
June 16, 1997

Believe

Jesus shunned the Pharisees, money changers and scribes
Caabah's idol breaker, history Mohammed describes
Black stone and the cross replaced what once was gold
As though people need an image to them as god sold;
Unless they can imagine, visualize, touch or hold
No matter what prophets say, the masses true ways scold,
They do not want to believe in an unimagined god
They worship a rock or wood, make a symbol of cod.

Even in our modern times, idols of old age
Have been scoffed and gone, treated with outrage
But we are still lacking in believing in god
Cunning idols of our time have replaced stone, wood and cod
Rampant formulism, raging materialism
In our heart and mind install cynicism;
We worship fame and wealth, run away with fear
Security, money, commitment, all we hear
Yet in no real way anyone's getting near
To the unimaginable that we all hold so dear.

Multitudes in any place, or any time they live
Simply do not believe, but believe that they believe.

© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
July 29, 1997

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This page was last modified on Monday, November 01, 2004.