Eyes and Time

“Eyes and Time”

Time was, time lost, time past…

Eyes cold, eyes hard, eyes bright…

Youth and power, never will they last,

Not one to rest, instead I must fight,

The loss of joy’s thunderous sounds fast,

For pages, books, songs; sorrow’s living wight!

Fools made of hope’s eternal drowning,

Too many lives, deserts without rain,

Their stark beauty grand and loss gaining,

So pure, a flawed concert of pain.

Time was, time lost, time past…

Eyes cold, eyes hard, eyes bright…

Oracle bones from wizened hands cast,

Relief sought, arriving prompt… not quite!

Life, self, faith: sold spirits waver past,

Dancing funerals pushing fright.

Halls of stone want for nobles kneeling,

An affront to our masters’ poor reign,

My failure blessed, cost unwelcoming,

Sanctuaries of thieves kept us sane.

Time was, time lost, time past…

Eyes cold, eyes hard, eyes bright…

Were it come too fast, the world’s ending,

Would it be but my own ceaseless plight?

How many in loyalty standing?

What memories of duty bring light?

Ancient fields fill, lawless mobs reeling!

Each day unique, its sameness insane,

When destroyed lovely things lose their sting?

Tarry, a place unforgiven… wanes?

Time was, time lost, time past…

Eyes cold, eyes hard, eyes bright…

Once, promise of a glory to be,

See I this, with eyes cold, hard and bright,

It is as it is, what we must see:

What in the past I was, fades from sight.

Time was, time lost, time past…

Eyes cold, eyes hard, eyes bright…

-- J.R.H.