Monday 23 July 2012

The Call



The Call Inside Us All Resides;
(for dad who sailed from the hospital)

What is it that twists me so?
That calls to me across the unending waves
Until my feet itch to be on their way
Without even knowing where they go?

I once dreamt of unicorns;
Of shining horns that pierced the night sky.
I dreamt of crescent smiles
And the gentle shade under a sacred oak.

Now I feel the grass, hear the wind in the leaves,
The whisper of things past and that yet to happen,
And even as I try to stir, the sun steals my passion.

The West calls! The West calls!  
The Land of Grey, the Land of Change
The Land to fear
Yet whose discovery bestows peace.

We are the river that always finds its true path.
We are the wolf that howls proudly to its mother.
We are the antlered King who runs before the pack.
We are strings of the harp; we cry the sweetest tunes
Across the blossoming meadows of all the realms.

We are them all and much, much more.
We are them all and none exactly.

The moon is red
The moon is white
The sable moon burns bright tonight.

We are the acorn. 
We are the oak.
We are the hunter. 
We are the hunted.

We are them all 
And much, much more
We are them all and none exactly.

For the journey never ends.
It twists and curls,
Touching back upon itself before proceeding on.

Eagles screech above me as they circle the sun,
Reflecting its golden warmth in their outstretched wings.
My thoughts yearn to fly also, to spread their wings
And carry me to the Island beyond the Western Lands.

Let us flee ! Let us flee !
Let me set my dreams free
Upon the verdant ocean of possibility
While above the gentlest clouds of gossamer gold
Shows that the morning light is rising.

I will reach another day,
I will land this craft
on the shore and stand again
on the sand, feeling my feet sink
even as my thoughts soar.

I am the Viking with helmet and shield,
I am the Celt using the secret Ogham alphabet
I am the Roman, straight like a road,
I am the Shaman dressed in the raven’s guise.

The night brings doubts, brings ripples
small concentric rings that draw me inwards
to the centre of the lake, there to meet
the Lady I once knew but left behind
when the genes and their designs forced an answer
I surrendered to time and time again
regardless of the consequence or the issue.

We all abandon, all flee
And are chosen. All fight
And are defeated, yet in the ashes
Rise up and strive again to answer
The call that lingers within, that fades
But will never cease
Until we feel the earth upon our face,
Until the worms burrow into the flesh
And the breath we used so cheaply
Falls still upon the hearth.

My hands have held the oar, have waved the wand
Have proved time and again the pen is no more mightier
Than the sword for in the end
We all sail upon that final sea, the memories
Filling our sail, the waves singing our journey
And behind us, always, those we love
Or wished we might have,
Stand and watch and know for certain
They, too, will answer this ultimate call.



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