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