in this hidden world
i walked along the river on the day's borrowed time,
i breathed the alpine air for what i thought a last time
images floated in my mind like a misty veil
the waters' swirling eddies silently flowed awaiting snow's melt,
a void burst within my breast, a hardened plane, rock weight it seemed
the stillness stared at me and asked what was wrong with me
i said, "everything, i cannot find peace as i feel the suffering,
there's people throughout the world wanting to get in,
into my head i feel, into my space i have to share
what they don't have with them
wanting safety, death's violent filthy face to escape
they're only asking is for food and shelter, all from me i feel
a means to earn their keep,
overwhelming a break i need 'fore my head does burst
i have enough to worry 'bout my own
the still of the day did not respond, i walked on as the minutes ticked by
measured by my footsteps in this hidden idyllic world of gems and nakedness
then the river spoke and said, "i hear your cry, i run the course just as you,
mine is to flow downward's pull, master gravity propels me along
heeding the Lord of the universe' call,
i will quench and cleanse the mouths and purge
and fill the emptiness and the lakes and ponds,
i will grow black in some men's filth in my run,
in the end before my fall into chambers deep and wide on land's fall,
i will enter into the oceans and its seas myself be cleansed
with the lord's command rise up to the heavens' first sky atmosphere
invisible by his sun's obeisance and move along carried
by my shapes called clouds and make another run until
i'm told to turn to ice, snow, rain and river run again
i plod on as rain clouds gather high, temperature drops
on i plod along the snowy banks of fallen freezing snow
reminiscent of my own paths of mounded labyrinthic cleaves
lost misplaced, misdirected distraction's depths of lone wanderlust
creation speaks, i hear voices well deep inside my frozen chest
"i am of flesh and blood, not mineral plant or animal
endowed with divine lit powers in his image made
with a will, mine he's given and with it bend the present and the future
change the course of streams and history, effect on time and space
find a place, provident niche, affect my fellow man by chosen grace
return to the race, make a mark for the good however mild
affect a child, woman man like me
to the end of my assignment destiny