Since He’s Gone

Answer me, someone answer me,
Where is my Beloved?
Where has He gone?
Why has He left me alone?

Is this stone like His heart,
Hard and cold to my inquiries?
Can He really have gone away,
Leaving me without a word?

Will this tree console me, or the next?
That shrub, or it’s nearby twin?
Please don’t steal away, deer
Can’t you show where He has gone?

Can this robin tell me?
Why does it pretend to not hear?
Why does it sing so happily,
Perched in a cedar?

Did this grass bend under His foot?
Was this twig snapped as His arm passed?
Does that patch of dust bear His print?
Were those leaves scuffled by His step?

I see beauty around me bereft of Beauty.
I hear empty sounds, not His voice.
This smell of flowers is not like His hair.
This sapling is not smooth like Him.

Darkness in the midst of day
Cloaks my unbelieving mind.
Insensate in the midst of plenty,
His absence binds me in ungrasping.