"For E. H. Payne"

…

The resonating sound of beating hearts

Keeps time as days and years steal softly away.

Moments fall as raindrops poured out from lazy clouds

Into a boundless sea of passing time.

White sails loom on the distant horizon

As ships chart courses through turbulent waves

All bound for the Citadel of Stars,

A luminescent city of light,

That waits on the far side of the sea.

Yet the ocean is treacherous

And while its currents carry some away,

The winds blowing haggard sailors

Into the presence of the sun,

The beacon that calls them home,

Where they shall sleep

Once the journey has ended,

Others, who have not the courage to stay the course,

Are lost,

And many disheartened sailors fall

Beneath the crashing of the waves.

Only they who are steady in the face of the storm,

Who rejoice in the falling of the rain

Arrive in the Golden City where

At last repose is given them.

…

October 15, 2006