I have no doubt that more than a few people on this site are involved in some sort of serious quest for intimacy with the Divine, however you may envision and symbolize that.  There is a lot of joy and fulfillment in this quest and, if we are honest, a lot of profound sorrow during those times we feel we are standing still or going in circles or distracted by trivialities.  When one sees that one has the same faults one had twenty years ago in spite of one's best efforts, it is a humbling experience.

There is a passionate longing to participate in the Divine directly, to behold, to feel, to know the Beloved face to face with no shadow of separation, and anything short of that is painful exile.  This is a poem about that pain of longing.  (Note:  Perenelle was the wife of the legendary alchemist, Nicholas Flamel, who reputedly helped him to transmute base metals into gold.)

    TRUE TO DESIRE

Your Perenelle is not here.

She will not help you to heal

The dark metals of your soul.

She will not lead you

From Saturn to Venus nor

From thence to the gardens

Of the Sun.  No... you will

Remain in exile.  Still,

I don't believe that shit

About relinquishing desire.

The one who is true to desire

Shall receive God, though he

Perish in shadow and fire.

That is my faith and religion.

- Tod Jones