Water breaks on rocks,
Unyielding in their stand
Yet the flow is patient
Constant in an assault
Not planned but predestined.
With time stones become complacent
Feeling safe, they slumber
Eroded too slow to notice.
Settings change around this battle
Old forests take witness
To events not understood.
Withered before learning
The river is naught but a quarry
Molding the rocks to it's bidding.
To what end, cannot be seen
Will the stones break
Before the water dries?

Come summer, arise
From fertile ashes of spring-
Winter she erased.

Who is this stranger?
I can feel myself
Looking into the mirror,
But the reflection is not known.
Hands withdraw cups of water
For a face that needs a shave,
Shaking the extra away.
Even the eyes are different
Changed from what’s been seen.
Is this a curse?
Feeling outside my body
Watching life with no control,
The stranger leaves the room.
He forgets to eat today,
A common occurrence it seems.
Growing weak for a while
It goes unnoticed,
No one left watching
Fading slowly to obscurity,
Am I lost forever?

Ephemeral.
Character Forgotten,
Reflection now amorphous.
Fire choked off
Blanketed by lies,
But you said forever...

Barely alive.
Lost on a mountain once known
Hunger fades as emotions become numb
This is it.
Not quite what was expected
Still a calm.
Accepting.
There is no way back,
No fight left.
Eyes close for what
Feels like the last time.
All grows silent.

Awaken.
Am I dead?
Everything is white.
Wait, is it only my eyes adjusting?
Recognizing the voice of birds,
A strange noise is heard
Somewhere in the distance.
Still confused,
Yet the sound is known.
Laughter.

But who could be out here
So far from everything familiar?
Am I hallucinating?
No.
The sound grows louder, closer
Someone is here.
How can this be?
Slowly rising to my feet
Drawing nearer to the source,
The way is lead beyond all control.

Frolicing.
A child runs through the fields
Giggling, she is being chased.
A mother closeley behind
Allowing her to stay just ahead.
As they draw closer,
I am still unnoticed
Then it happens.
Eyes lock with the elder of the two
Frozen in place.
Body knowing not how to react
To the vision at hand.

Face to Face,
No words exchanged.
All is said from a look alone
Feeling inside a warmth unexplained.
Knowing now I am not
Alone in this wilderness,
Seeing everything in eyes so deep
They begin to skip away.
Following suite.
Like it was supposed to be this way.
I have been found.

Lost.
How did I get to this point?
When I started this journey
I knew the way.
Not the paths,
But the destination.
A little further
I would venture each time
Always able to find the way back.

Each time returned
Less was known.
Voices grew quiet,
Yet still I remembered
From where I came.
Confident this would
Always be the case.
Longer gone I would stay.

The paths have been overtaken,
Bridges washed out.
Higher I journeyed trying
To see out of the woods.
Reaching the summit,
Eyes slowly adjust to the sun.

An endless sea of unknown
Returns with the gaze.
Panic.
Knowing not the way,
Forgetting all direction.
No search party coming.
Who will find me?

The world was full of magic once
Possibility and hope abounding
Believing anything can happen
In the wanderlust surrounding,

With each year in passing
The sparkle begun to fade
Leaving behind only shadows
Of memories that were made,

Hearts become cold hardened
As all smiles disappear
Losing sight of what's important
In a vision no longer clear,

Sitting still in the silence
Of this vast prosaic void
Softly comes the sound of
Something forgotten, once enjoyed,

Laughter heard, at first distant
Colors slowly creep back in
It's the Sprites! They are singing
Could it be the time again?

On the path of illumination
Was just blinded for awhile
I saw it again today
There is magic in your smile