A starlit forest glowing bright
Beneath the heavens’ gaze
Soothes quick my heart, bereft of light
Until I saw its rays

I can’t but doubt that my footfalls
Will stand the test of time
Will hold up ‘neath the summer squalls
And with the hist’ries rhyme

And yet there is that niggling thought
Within the crowded mind:
That one man’s struggles really ought
Not live when he has slipped his earthly bind.

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