A poem - 'Who am I?'

Am I my body, for it shall die?

Am I my feelings, for they change all the time?

Am I my thoughts, for they don't feel to be mine?

Tell me please, Who am I?

For I do not know where I was before birth,

or where I will go when I depart this Earth.

I am alone in a crowd, no way to connect,

awkward and vulnerable I avoid being direct.

Lost in a world that's cold and confused,

I keep warm by myself so not to be used.

But I see with the years my world growing small,

strangled by fears, I have no place to fall.

With no sense of purpose, don't know what to do,

I wander around, searching for you.

So, please, I beg you, tell me now,

Who am I without a crowd?

Who am I with no body or thought,

or any thing at all that's not paid or bought?

When I strip down and completely naked,

Who am I in front of the sacred?

If I am not you, and you are not me,

then what's in-between for us to Be?

I need to know before I die,

Who am I? What is true inside?

And here I am, on my death-bed,

I wait for you, I let go instead.

All these years wishing to belong,

now I know you've been here all along.

Who am I is no longer a question,

but a warm embrace with deep connection.

Hold me tight as you bring me across,

to the only place I can never feel lost.

Your gift of peace has let me try,

to help respond to 'Who am I?'

Amen.