hope

We walked, once, on the same earth
we gazed, once, at the same sky
I see you still, bending over the water
as I add another twig to the fire
It was home, it was a pleasant dark
and your eyes were gleaming with light

I'm left with only that memory of light
and the forest is now merely charred earth
Everytime I seek you, it's suddenly dark
I grasp at your silhouette in the sky
Is this fate mine, this trial by fire?
Will you pass by, like flowing water?

I'll wait for the rain and its promise of water
Surely there will be a change of light
Surely I will gather warmth from the fire
And I'll walk lightly again on the earth
Would that I see a glimpse of that sky
And slip by your shade in the dark

Without you, this house is all too dark
The walls echo the tap's dripping water
While the mid-day sun in the hot sky
makes only a pretense at light
I'm far far away from the solid earth
I'm still bearing the scars of your fire

But I miss the crackle of that fire
I'd forswear the freedom from the dark
For a minute spent on the old earth
A moment spent in the same water
For, where there is you, there is light
And my heart bluer than the bluest sky

Now my life's as open as the sky
I'm a dry twig, waiting for a fire
Another day, a world in new light
I have hope,- who needs the dark
I'll seek the river, my secret water
In time, I'll be strong in the earth

Trust the light, and face the sky
Smell the earth, and the dying fire
Shun the dark, and be like water.


(My first attempt at a sestina)