A Rebirth

He inspires somber fireside melodies Children keep a distance, or whisper trepid greetings Tears roll uncontrollably and nights never end Once, he could conjure soft rains, And the sensation of stormy droplets One after the other, they found solace in a joint stream of tears and laughter But nothing seems to live within him now Idle winds hasten with each shallow breath His halting pulse sliding along in the ensuing current It wields acute visions of his remote past severely depleted by a brittle reality And a faint rhythm barely pacing the angry winds He hears the steady hum of an ineffable thought It’s the only song he knows It rings unbearably through him inducing a rare prayer But fading emotions flood the dreary night He wanders through dreamless crevices while angels rest Birds fall silent when he breaks an intimate radius They fail to hear the sound of life Eyes glow incessantly in the dark A lone candle casting his silhouette against the wall behind him He cannot bear his own shadow Every flicker recalls a glittering past Every fade, a dimming existence Spirits scurry in apprehension He bears a disconcerting cocktail of impassive eyes and indifference He offers the spirits a wide berth But every path leads nowhere but Past curious owls and pensive trees and bewildered creatures All sensing a presence… and seeing nothing They ask questions About higher beings and broken souls About our natural order and enduring hope About heavens, birds, trees and the spirits that live within They relate a solemn tale That his life carries a matching and constant destiny Of an equivalent death and sad parity And the dawn of a new rebirth