I hear the distant sounds of bright
Machines of earthly hand
At all hours of the quiet night
My focus sounds demand

I wish for chirping crickets then
Instead of crashing things
For music made by careless men
Pales next to that of strings

There was a time I rode upon
A wind both fierce and strong
That carried me hither and yon
And forced a journey long

At first I asked for quiet, then
I asked to turn around
But winds do not listen to men
And ‘long Fate’s road they bound

So to horizons far I flew
E’er wondering where I’d wend
Unknowing what I’d travel through
Ere we reached journey’s end

At last when wind began to die
I looked around to see
That rivers, plains, and mountains high
That theretofore were spinning by
Without a hint to how or why
Had gone and transformed me

I watch in quiet as your bones
Expand with restful breath
And hear the earthly undertones
Of breathing soft as death

I sit still so as not to wake
You from this short-lived peace
I’d not this solace from you take
Ere morning’s sweet release

I wish to dream of simpler things
Than what I see awake
To leave behind the muck that clings
And my solace does take

I’ve often sung of far-off lands
And times long lost to myth
Of cities now beneath the sands
And men buried therewith

So often that I’m sometimes lost
Within this world of steel
Longing for rough stone unembossed
Hidden ‘neath earthly seal

When I was lost amongst the reeds
With mud between my toes
I saw before me that which feeds
The world’s most troubling woes

It took the form of a man bright
With words as fine as silk
Whose power lay in verbal might
To lead those of his ilk

But there amongst the reeds I saw
His feet were muddy too
And his facade for me did thaw
Revealing what was true:

His pow’r was false, his words a trick
Aimed t’ward some lesser mind
His muddy feet were poised to kick
People not of his kind

In sitting ‘pon the whitecap cloud
I ride the summer’s breeze
By autumn undeterred, unbowed
I cross to far-off seas

The noisome crowds babble and cry

Their harsh, unceasing words

I wish I could not comprehend

And heard them as the birds