In The Book - William Stafford

[Larry Robinson]

In The Book
 
A hand appears.
It writes on the wall.
Just a hand moving in the air,
and writing on the wall.
 
A voice comes and says the words,
"You have been weighed,
you have been judged,
and have failed."
 
The hand disappears, the voice
fades away into silence.
And a spirit stirs and fills 
the room, all space, all things.
 
All this in The Book
asks, "What have you done wrong?"
But The Spirit says,
"Come to me, who need comfort."
 
And the hand, the wall, the voice
are gone, but The Spirit is everywhere.
The story ends inside the book,
but outside, wherever you are --
 
It goes on.
 
	- William Stafford