Amidst bright flowers, towering trees    
nearby mountains of varying hues, purple and green    
bringing swiftly flowing rivers in the early Spring;    
a deep blue sky for my canopy, star studded at night    
where countless stars each within its own system abides,    
I am here and there and everywhere my thoughts take me.    

Yet am I here for you when you need me,    
when you feel blue, lonesome, somewhat down, melancholy;    
your heart may cry out for it needs to be relieved    
then where am I, do I say "Here I Am"    
to hold you, care for you, caress you,    
perhaps only once in a while, sporadically.    

Thus when injustices are done,    
the rights of others maligned or trodden on,    
when there is grief, hunger, genocide    
then where am I, do I then too say,    
"Here I Am", or do I just pass and close my eyes;    
too frequently the latter course, the easy way out    
is rationalized as what can I do for    
I am powerless, or it concerns me not.    

There will come a time, it may not be that distant at all,    
when due to circumstances well beyond my control,    
the tables are turned, and the end may be in sight.    
It is now my turn to anxiously call in prayer or in thought,    
will then "HIS" answer be, "HERE I AM"    
at your side to comfort, lead you on your way,    
or will "HE" simply turn away    
in the shameful way I have so often done.    
 

HERBERT HOLZBAUER    
© October 1998