In the strangely still and murky hours before sulky dawn
When nightbird calls and wizard sounds with caution fill the air,
He dreamt a shape in silhouette against the rising morn
Some mystic phantom woodland creature stealing from its lair
To stalk its frail and uncontested prey in dull silence
The larger making victim of the small, nature’s pattern
Crash, crackle, sounds merge thus veiled its predatory violence,
The night regained quietude, day began anew its turn.
For so it is in life, a sea nymph calls a plaintive air
To stir him from his worthy course and will him to her lair
Where life and dreams blend in a fantasy of love well meant,
And he unthinking reveled there for times too long content
When suddenly the silence breaks with unrestraining din,
The clutter of the brash world revokes their peace, rushing in
Not seeing all the twist and turn that caught them in this net
That neither wish to leave with stillborn hope lest they forget,
But who are they to dare impugn the lust of wishful hearts,
Impose on each a purpose that reflects not their own starts,
Too often those who don’t belong or cannot understand
Mar that joy which sings within the mind and slips from the hand,
And so return to what are looked upon as useful ways,
Leave behind the foolishness of what had been wayward days.
Claire V. Bogdanos 