An Angel took me
By surprise
With languid eyes
And winged away
Before … I asked

Reason argued ... But could not win
Fancy ventured ... But would not stray
Heart seized ... But did not grasp

Am I?
Or am I … only?

I dreamt that …

Life began a story
That ended in a dream

… Whose dream?

I put a man on the moon … I helped
I carried flame across the sky … without a net
I took Heaven’s obsolete virginity
And displayed the taking
On a billion TV screens

For I am God’s child
And what there is, is mine

Mine to take
Mine to hold
Mine to stand by and watch die

I can do no wrong
For I define right
And I deny liability
For the past

The future is mine to expect …
Regardless

I lay
In a field
On a hillside … soft
With grass

Oblivious

To the damp
The insects
Ultraviolet

I feel
A tug of wind
At my shirt
Caress my face

The instant warmth
Of a friendly sun
On exposed flesh

I believe
That somehow
This has all been orchestrated
Just for me

And I’m exactly where
I ought
To be

The horse (a creature of blind passion) pawed
The earth beside the silent fallen form
A digger of graves more noble yet … more odd
Than ever I had chanced to see before

His raven mane flashed in the waning light
Which time to time broke through the pressing clouds
His nodding passion and his frothing cry
Failed in their valiant efforts to arouse

Some battle fought long since had caused the wound
That took the rider from the reins at last
And left the steed unmounted in a world
Unknown by journey or by battles past

Dark senses now compelled the ungripped beast
To travel far from sounds of master’s fray
And find some place of tranquil rest at last
Sweet reason’s constant battle’s lost this day

Unreined, unburdened, free to roam at will
The creature’s innate knowledge must prevail
To take the place of Master’s hard learned skill
And keep blind passion on an earthly trail

And I’ll forever follow down this trail
Where passion always leads the lost and least
For I have lost my Master’s voice today
And I am now this roaming, riderless beast