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

I wandered out amid the mists
And dreary village lights
And there lost sight of twinkling lamps
That lit my prior nights