Far from the clouds that
Covered the home of my youth,
(The poet mused with eyes wide open,
After thinking for ten thousand years),
I have seen much and made sense of it…
… Streets bright after the rain,
…Mountains which hide the blazing sun,
…Black woods where no mortal dwells,
…The sadness within the eyes of Death,
…Wind assaulting grasses without harm,
…What drives songbirds from their nests,
and their music from the trees,
…Oceans draining all that the rivers might give…
But knew that I could see
Ten thousand mountains more
By merely going up one more flight
Of the stairway of life that I am climbing.
Seemingly all alone and in a foreign land,
Where twilight shadows fill my heart,
I have seen the sun, in all its glory,
Oft buried by the coming night.
I have wondered out loud the why of it,
That there is no limit to God’s,
Nor my own, capacity to love.
I have pondered those brave souls,
Who fought the fights worth fighting,
And wondered where dreams of them
Might enter, like men alive, into
The rooms where their loves lie sleeping.
You might ask me for some wit or wisdom
Garnered from all that I have known
And I would have no choice but to ask…
When might I hear your voice again
As you try to hold back your tears
That fall through some nights like rain?
For there is and was no one like you…
Too young to have learned what sorrow means,
But not old enough to bear life’s hardships.
Might I make light of life and tell you simply,
As you stand in darkness not seeing the moon,
That there are two things that you must do.
If you would wake in the morning and
Find the arrow with its point buried
Deep in the bedrock of your life, you must
First, pull the arrow out, then
draw your bow and let the arrow fly…
…and then open your eyes and seek it.