Silence

A wanderer bequeaths to you

A simple song of silence

Instructing you what you should do

Your life hangs on compliance

’I will keep mum once they find me

Though they will know just the same

They will crush this flower soundly

Then it will be your time of fame

Precariously raise your hand

Recall every word I say

They will chase you across the land

So now run without delay’

You flee with what has been given

This includes your life, realize

For which so many have striven

Hidden within you a prize

A knowledge so valued and vast

One that grows with all you see

You are neither first nor last

To learn of worlds that be

Your adventures are so splendid

Comprehending benign

You told me more than intended

Or am I just next in line

To tiptoe past tyrants with whom I cannot trifle

To swim in streams the sun does not see

To run to the rhythm of ricocheting rifles

To bask in beauty that cannot be

Embraced by embery allies who shouldn’t exist

Terror twisting a transient tongue

Pursued by people who precociously persist

As they do now, wisdom must be wrung

.

.

.

As cautious as the rising tide

As thorough as the sun

Nowhere remains for us to hide

There’s nowhere left to run

You stand and tell of what you see

Flooded from all angles

You ask and beg me to believe

From this your hope dangles

I raise my hand

Promise held within my eyes

I understand

Silence is not a demise