The Fool's Discontent, Part 7

Read part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

VII.

But if

Your poem’s not long enough, strong enough, wait!

The piper is calling for you

And if your song is not high enough, clear enough, jump!

No bird ever stumbled that flew

And if your story’s not sharp enough, deep enough, look:

I know what you seek is the True!

And if

Your fingers clutch weakly at things that don’t seem

To bear up the glory or harbor the dream

And your toes become numb in the biting dry air

Of the cold empty hall leading on to nowhere

And love is a rope and your spirit a chair

And if

Your feet are too slow

And your hands are too wet

And your ears are too close

And your dreams are too set

And your head is too hard

And your mind is too soft

If your thoughts are too clean

And your will is too weak

If your eyes are too thin

And your lips cannot speak

And your heart runs so quick when your thoughts start a-spinning

And your thoughts are set dark when the man starts a-grinning

And your raw throat constricts at the thought of not singing

And your brain gives a leap at the thought of not thinking

And if

Your hands start to shake at the thought of control

And your skin starts to crawl at the call of the night

And your nose starts to curl at the taste of defeat

And your eyes start to glass at the thought of respite

And you turn

And you toss

And you cannot catch sleep

And you envy the dawn with her red morning mist

And you envy the sand with her fluid white pearls

And you envy the forest with her whisp’ring laugh

And you envy the sky with her playful light fits

And you envy the sea with her black magic eyes

And her sweet-smelling sense

And her cool salty smiles

And you run down the road while the night is yet black

And you run to the cliffs with the moon at your back

And you run with the wind as the horizon shatters

And you run with abandon as though nothing matters

And you long for the stone-cut dreams that are found

Where the head meets the heart and the sun hits the ground

And you envy the sea with her mad ocean gown

And her foaming white lace

And her shafted-light crown

And you toss

And you turn

And you stare

And you frown

And you just want to sing out in prayer before you drown

I will meet you on the wild black forest hills

At sundown.