Because a graffiti artist drew a prayer on a pavement, and someone remarked he’s uncomfortable with the Saviour’s face on the ground…

I.

If you believe, then He is everywhere –

under each sole, beneath arches of feet,

in the minutest of grasses. In prayers

of chalk on asphalt on a peak hour street.

Does it unnerve you if He’s not always

smiling down at you from a lofty height? –

from a cross, a pedestal, carved cliff face,

hidden beyond the range of outer sight.

Too big for boots, He could very well choose

to look up at you from a pavement sketch,

and measure obeisance in passing shoes -

and they need not cautiously skirt the edge.

Don't worry, He can’t be trampled upon,

whatever the height, wherever He’s drawn.


II.

Didn’t He state unequivocally

that He is the Object of all worship?

the forms and rituals tweaked locally,

suitably adjusted for human grip.

You know no earthly murals can contain -

no carvings, no altars, no blocks of stone

mean anything, just a guide for the brain

which can’t grasp the formless, the unseen, unshown.

Everything, and nothing, is holy -

sacred’s not a place, it’s your mind, and mine.

He’s as much in buildings as in a lowly

coloured chalk drawing at a roadside shrine.

Don’t worry, He won’t be trampled upon.
He’s not just an idol, or icon.

"Those who worship other gods with faith and devotion also worship Me, Kaunteya, even if they do not observe the usual forms. I am the Object of all worship, its sole Consumer and the Lord." Bhagavad Gita, Ch 9:23.