God, His Beautiful Skies and You

105. Never Ours

Yesterday I raised my gaze skywards

And saw playful birds

Wheeling through billows of pillows

Through cotton buds and cotton hearts

In a garden without a name

In a picture without a frame

God’s Gift Sublime

To the enquiring mind

In this ornate canvas

That we call earth

Tis’ was His always

Never ours.

………………………….

As I drove along the east coast highway, heading eastwards towards Kuantan and then Kuala Terengganu for my friend’s wedding, I was stunned by the rural beauty of my country and the immense skyscape which is not obstructed by any buildings and other towering man-made edifice. I entered the east coast highway just about sunrise, exiting the Karak Highway which crosses over the Banjaran Titiwangsa (the mountain range which straddles Peninsular Malaysia from the north down to the south and dividing the peninsular into two. The sunrise was beautiful as the morning light gradually cuts through the clouds and low-lying mists in the interior forests and oil palm estates that lie adjacent along the whole stretch of the highway. Beautiful.

Our actual route.

The beautiful skies did not end with the morning, through the afternoon the heavens were lit with the brightest most lively blue I have ever seen as plumes of snow-white clouds break the formless monotony. And at night, as I gazed up I saw thousands upon thousands of stars, twinkling like God’s own Angels of Light. Oh Wow.

For all this while, God has been creating and recreating His own artwork on the canvas of our reality. And I, an urban rat living in an urban rathole, surrounded by arrogant towers glorifying Man’s power, greed and consumerism, have forgotten His Beautiful skies. 

After this I hope to have more travels out of my city of Kuala Lumpur. I love the city but sometimes your soul just needs a little elbow room, you know? Some breathing space to give full vent of your feeling towards your Creator and His amazing artwork upon this canvas of life that we call Earth. Glorious.

And do you know what is best of all, sunshine? Through all His creations of manifest beauty - the Sun and the Moon, the stars and the galaxies, the jungle and the seas, the birds, the fishes, the animals, the trees and the bees, God still found time to make you... Perfect you. Wonderful you. Beautiful you.

9. Wonderful

Beauty made the world a canvas,

To paint His Names

In cosmic colour and hue.

And in between the First suns and the Last moons,

Beauty found time to create you.

………………………….

Thank you for sharing this paradise on Earth with me. Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way