There Is a Land

THERE IS A LAND There is a land, always near to me, I know so well, A place, where the cycle of seasons Never fails to mark Each succeeding year With its own special course. When I am far from home, I remember every unregretted stage Of my pilgrimage on those shores To the time when I first stepped Out, having long hid a shaming secret Before final release from dark days. The spirit of the land lies within me Wherever I am present in the world. Through my presumed frailty I learned To resist the relentless pressure Of hostile familiarity and never veer From the path of persistent Self-discovery. There is a land I know so well, Always near to me. It is both my dawn, When the sun climbs and draws across The waking earth, and my dusk, As the dim light falls back into The shadows of a sleep Which may be infinite. The spirit of the land lies within me, Wherever I am present in the world.