Red and sore--my feet ached badly,
I had run many miles on the road to sanity;
But puzzling thoughts intruded--and sanity eluded,
my ruminating mind and inner decency.

The guards had posted signs at the gate,
if anyone tried to run they'd surely be killed;
Was it not the work of the dastardly devil,
to harden hearts and and destroy our fading wills ?

Bleeding now, my feet resting on the cool grass,
reminding me of life's frailty and profound sorrow;
With mindful energy I took to the nearest street,
not fearing any pain or agony of tomorrow.

I ran along--with panting breath--taking time,
to renew the churning urgency within my soul;
It had truly never bothered me before today,
that I was just half-human and not quite whole.

Fragile--yet I held fast--only to discover,
that sanity would be revealed in mystic layers;
Of holiness, hope and clarity not seen before,
during these many wretched and tiring hours.

I wept--then slept--with a warm sense of peace,
when finally far enough away from danger;
It grabbed my hand, this ghost of my selfish past,
and daringly cast its spell, from which I'd wandered.

There'll be no death when sins are unexposed,
with unmasked evil lurking in the cosmic showers;
From the restless tides among the ocean's depths,
there comes the eternal flame and ultimate power.