Evensong

For my sins and everything I ever did or sought to be, Contempt and dying to be clever in unfathomed pools of sadness, I plumbed each depth and splashed the ether, oscillated shakily, Strapped to dark beliefs and definitions, all I gleaned of me was badness. In my heart I hoarded secrets, guarded, gloated jealously, Something touched quiescent feelings, split the stone upon the grave; Resurrected dead ambitions with a Lazarus decree And in doing so, in side-effect, unearthed a soul to save. You did nothing of importance, so you reckoned pensively, But if not for you, at close of play, I would have stayed the same; Doing penance, going nowhere, shooting blanks haphazardly In a thermos of reflection with nowhere to lay the blame. In the dusky tones of evensong a plaintive melody Croons through mazes in my image and exalts together days; So perhaps, by your sweet process, you brought out the best in me, And therein must lie the truth, that what we had has worked both ways.