A Prayer by the Lake

Stories are long, too long;
the moral is short - one word.
You are that word, O Word of God.
You are the moral of all stories.
What the stars write across the heaven, the grass whispers on earth.
What the water gurgles in the sea, fire rumbles beneath the sea.
What an angel says with his eyes, the imam shouts from his minaret.
What the past has said and fled, the present is saying and fleeing.
There is one essence for all things; there is one moral for all stories.
Things are tales of heaven. You are the meaning of all tales.
Stories are your length and breadth. You are the brevity of all stories.
You are a nugget of gold in a knoll of stone.
When I say your name, I have said everything and more than everything;
Oh my love, have mercy on me!
Oh my Might and Truth, have mercy on me!

Poem 13, "Prayers by the Lake," Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich