Sparks of Joy

I squeeze my eyelids narrow as I follow east The scarlet rays of dawn loom like a crouching beast That watches with a hunger neither harsh nor kind And breathes out living warmth into the sapling pines My path unfurls before me like a shaken sail Like wings as shy and boundless as the nightingale Like rivers drawn abroad by sloping destinies And futures seen as vivid as if memories The morning's beams resolve into a flaming scowl And lick the land and set savannah winds ahowl As shadows kneel before their maker, inch by inch In penitence for sins forgotten ages since My path becomes an eons-worn, dry river bed Shy, boundless wings cede way to but one road ahead The dreams of youth replaced by life's monotonies And yearning hopes defaced by mounting tragedies. I feel the distant heat descending at my spine The flaming beast returning to its holy shrine The autumn shades of maple leaves now dance unseen The vestal rays of yesteryears have lost their sheen I hear a creaking whisper as I stand alone The haunting squeaking murmur of arthritic bones As tingling, racing shivers surge upon the breeze My neck hairs stand, pricked tall like frost anemones I miss the distant heat descending at my spine That beast or god or devil's resting in its shrine While darkness chases fleeting sparks of joy away Cruel darkness chases fleeting sparks of joy away