Mortality

Remembrance

My faith
Belongs to gentler times
When I
Felt the sun pour down
And light
Seemed to bear a sound
Held safe
Against much older eyes

Childhood

Long days of summer haze
And nights of distant stars
Tales born of fertile dreams
The travel of the mind

My skin never felt the cold
My heart beat to rhythms bold

Laughter in the sky
Where all my hope did lie
I derided every pain
Never felt the shame
That others sought to claim
Every joy of life was mine

I’d walk on down a dusty road in the sun
Childhood legs conveyed me toward some story yet begun
Then I’d find that I must run, to seek the tale at the end of the road
And I’d wind, for endless hours, the journey carrying me far from home

All the wonder of rain and thunder to guide me, find me
Call to heaven and hear the answer in memory, trust me
I will raise my voice and find my way back home

The desire to know was enough for us
Doubt never corrupted life; we still held our trust
Light and the desire; Roads that never end
Turn back all the hours and find all the faith can stay

Adolescence

Farce and laughter chill me
Drive their ache to the bone
Why can’t I turn the despise aside
Hold my desire to fight

I did not believe
In friendship to deceive

A liar
An absent
A friend

Why did I believe in every single lie?
You denied the friendship that I tried to buy
I discern the answer to this growing pain
I deserve a better friend to take in vain

Pour down every hate and see if I break

Ideal and lost I can name the sin
Hippocrite, gluttonous grin

My despair is just a brand of party game
Mocking smiles return with power to sear and maim
Cut my worth and tell me are you larger now
Can you stand on beaten hope, please tell me how.

The Man’s Epiphany

So now, the chance to fall
Too great for simple plans
Should I fail, others lives
Will suffer with this man

I don’t belong to those
Who lift the brighter veil
I’m confined to the ground
With dirt beneath my nails

So, when north winds blow
And call the autumn wind
I will hope
I have saved
Enough to fight the cold
Won’t let him in …

Reconciled to all
The pain I’ve ever known
It is just
Way this world
Dispenses of its own

Can I live beyond
The name that they make me wear
I will try
To be strong
To stand again, I swear

Standing has a subtle way
Of giving men the trust
In their only strength:
The will to leave the dust

So, when I’ve grown old
I’ll find my way back home
And I’ll fly
In that sky
Where summer light has shone

Don’t mourn for me
It’s not a labor’s wage
That I sought
When I fought
To find my way back home
I found my way back home
To find my way …

Elder Years
I find that shadows fall
In patterns on the ground
Slow change that I can hear
In light that bears no sound

The barrows quiet me
The patience of the grave
Hope of the time to see
The child I might save

The desire to know was enough for us
Doubt never corrupted life; we still held our trust
Light and the desire; Roads that never end
Turn back all the hours and find all the faith remain

My skin at last can feel the cold
My heart still beats to rhythms bold

I’ve seen a thousand suns
And the light was never the same

I descend to a single, firming point
That all I ever lived for
Was the child that lived inside.