Mezzanine
by P.H. Wise

Once I was a crushed, hollow thing
With empty eyes and a fading spirit
And when the cold grayness of the world
Matched the cold grayness of my life
That Power which holds up the cosmos
came to me, and spoke life into my withered spirit.

Now I am here and joy is the blue sky,
The ocean by night, the friends, the enemies,
The bitterness, and the love of all mankind.
Sadness is in everything too, intermingled
Like salt in the ocean.

Quietness comes from the mountain lake,
The soaring eagle, the empty cross, and the strange
In-between -
A strange, hybrid thing am I; no longer a lump of coal
Not yet a diamond.

Soon I will be.
Changed.