God Follows Me Everywhere

God Follows Me Everywhere

God follows me everywhere-

spins a net of glances around me,

shines upon my sighless back like a sun.

God follows me like a forest everywhere.

My lips, always amazed, are truly numb, dumb,

like a child who blunders upon an ancient holy place.

God follows me like a shiver everywhere.

My desire is for rest; the demand within me is: Rise up,

See how prophetic visions are scattered in the streets.

I go with my reveries as with a secret

in a long corridoor through the world-

and sometimes I glimpse high above me, the faceless face of God.

...

God follows me in tramways, in cafes.

Oh, it is only with the backs of the pupils of one's eyes that

one can see

how secrets ripen, how visions come to be.

Abraham Joshua Heschel.