Wilderness

Quietly exhaling underneath the din of noise

Conversations happening but never dent the surly poise

Locked outside the glass from all the other girls and boys

In a symphony of silence unconcerned with mirth or joy

Listening to voices hidden, speaking on but with no words

As the bells toll from some tower on some long ago lost church

As the cataclysmic entropy bleeds out upon the urge

Dousing out the glowing embers, push them down where they won’t hurt.

And the crowd around me ripples with a deep uneasy sway

And they can’t decide to come close or move very far away

And my eyes are glowing with something that I cannot explain

And the ambiance can seldom break a smile upon my face

And my lack of orthodoxy pulls some in and others scorn

I project the strength of oak but I feel broken down and worn

And with a million paths from here, in a million ways I’m torn

Trying to choose a single kernel from the swaying stalks of corn.

I can feel the secrets that the world is loathe to give

Know many paths I’ve walked are paths that I will walk again

Knowing I will have companions as I walk this wilderness

And hope that on my journey I somehow will learn to live.