Finding Refuge

There is no safety anywhere on earth;
Nations come and go like seasons that turn
And works of art, no matter what their worth,
Are consumed, a forest that has been burned.

Realizing this, it can break your heart,
That all that we love, all that we perceive,
Will end up less than dust, will fall apart,
Lost within the tides of eternity --

A whisper, a vastness, from before time began,
A permeating presence without any end,
A shelter, a refuge that we can't comprehend,
An endlessness upon which everything depends,

A stillness, a silence that leaves no trace
Opens the heart to the presence of grace.