Religion then
I had none
when compassion
set in---mine I found
all at once:
no church
nor place of worship
an intimacy
I share with only
the Transcendental
where absent totally
is the search or reason-

the self-diminution
the letting-go
the renunciation
the non-attachment
and the final liberation-

if I need a name-
I'll call it the
'religion of man'