Reflection II

[sandalwood]

I found a well worn path out in the trees
And went for a run,
Cause it was easy for me
To see on nights without a sun.
The full moon’s light can get that bright
When it’s there,
Despite that all this way I've passed right over
Every bird and every bear,
But still, I can hear them and have come to understand
The birds’ sweet songs,
They sing they’re already bored of flying.
That didn't take them long
And I can't help but laugh
Until I’ve cried this whole bewailing brook.
And I, stumbling off of the path,
Walk up to its edge to have a look.
I kneel and lean down over it,
Cause I could really use a drink,
When a face appeared in the water,
So I asked it what it thinks.
And it said.

On trails where you’ve run dry and you cross a river,
You say that god’s a giver.
On roads where you hurt and moan
And you’ve none to blame I’ve heard you curse his name.
Some days it turns out right
And you want to sing that he’s in all things.
But nights when you’re safe at home and without a care
You forget he’s there.

I can see on the other side of the water,
That, the path, it does go on,
Where the trees are thinning just enough,
For me to see a coming dawn.
Nothing more than a glow of orange
O’er the ridge of those blue mountains,
All breaking up the far horizon
With so few peaks and summits I can count them.
I go and run a little further
To see what flowers may grow that way,
But these flowers look familiar,
Already open to receive imminent day,
And the closer that I look, the light is fading,
Until I can't see anymore,
So I reach out and touch a soft petal,
A soft petal that I know I've touched before.
Then my eyes begin to open, where I’d just been lying
Here on a boulder,
And in the stream still flowing all around me,
I can see that I look a little older.
Well it’s helped me in the past,
So I lean down where, staring straight back,
I’m so damn quick to answer,
I never even heard what I had asked.
And said,

You might, looking back one day,
Say ‘I’ve come this far cause he’s in my heart,’
Or else say, when one by one, all their seats are emptied,
That, ‘his love has left me,’
But some days you just feel blessed,
And every breath will make you want to give him thanks.
But nights when you're still so young and without a care,
You just forget he’s there.

Unsure of which way I’d come from,
With a blue sky now above me.
Unsure of which way I’d been going,
But this way here, it looks most lovely.
So I pad across the water
Where the mossen trees are telling me is west,
I here a songbird’s singing,
And at once I see unfurl a reddened crest.
Blushing Form is to marry Function,
Brother Robin and Sister Azalea,
Whose appearance is perfect for their lifetime of work,
With no mind for how to avail you.
But my mind is put to ease,
By everything that I can take in at a glance,
From the Dandelion Borealis
To the maiden violets’ yellow jacket dance.
To the dirt steady changing into cobble,
While the canopy it slows down to a crawl,
All curling up over like a tunnel into
The treeline gated, so created, sprawl.
I’m surprised to find that I’ve
Returned right to where the well worn path began.
Only a stroll across the garden from
Where reliably my dear old dwelling stands.
I brush my hand against my window,
And where the dust is freed there I can plainly see,
All mirrored back in the stainless glass,
Every flower and every tree,

That grows there on the path,
Now framing my reflection,
Looking into my eyes,
With no remaining questions,
I said,

I used to say God moved in all things,
Because he had moved.
I used to say prayer’s what changed the world,
But prayer had changed me.
I used to say that God would talk to me,
But then I started talking back.
I used to say that he would return one day,
Until saw his face at last,
And said,

On trails where you’ve run dry and you cross a river,
You say that god’s a giver.
On roads where you hurt and moan
And you’ve none to blame I’ve heard you curse his name.
Some days it turns out right
And you want to sing that he’s in all things.
But nights when you’re safe at home and without a care
You forget he’s there.