On the shore
I dreamed a Dream:
In the beginning
Was the Light,
And it shone
O'er the Water
Through the Darkness.

But Faith
Would not dispel
The Darkness;
Nor would Covenants,
Nor Service, nor
Fasting, nor Scholarship
Nor Penance.

And through Weariness
The Vomit sweetened,
And together
We sipped it
On the shore;
Stealth as
Our witness.

And in your
Eyes I saw
The Darkness.
In your voice,
The bite of
The Winter
Wind.

And our
Curling smiles
Through cankered
Lips, exposed
The worn and
Blackened Teeth
Of the Wanton.

And you stepped
From out the
Waters onto a
Stony shore,
Extending backward
Friendship's
Beckoning hand.

But resisting
I watched your
Self-lit eyes
Probe deeper
Gaze onward,
Ever Snakeward
Into the Darkness.

11/04/2002

Author's Note: Perhaps, my friend, I've read too much of Isaiah.

Posted on 11/05/2002
Copyright © 2024 Leonard M Hawkes