granite 'n marble, pearl-cream boulders,
flanked by crocus 'n daffodil,
the silent rows of soulless soldiers
marking time where time stands still.

onyx-green and turquoise slate
mark a start, the door, the gate
the end from place o' fluid potential
escape from 'things' inconsequential

i gently touched a tomb head-stone
warm as ice and cold as bone,
felt the heart that gave a quiver
as it stood on banks of river

river flowing in place eternal
veiled by secret shadows infernal
wading through the waters o' night
i found myself in a place of light

'step back', i heard, 'return to life',
'return to place of trouble and strife',
'lay neck down for human slaughter,
meld as one with Divine Daughter'.

'though your world is bitter black
and men are blind to light they lack,
though sky appears forever grey,
your world decadent, 'n place o' decay.'

'though your heavens be overcast,
your sighing troubles everlast,
not in the heavens is G-d to be found,
but in that darkness, in the ground.'

'this secret be not understood
till you're placed in cask of wood,
but then, my son, 'twill be too late
to return to place beyond this gate.'

'take this panacea in your hand,
use it on your return to land,
this knowledge that G-d is to be found
in earthly world to which you're bound.'

'for in the darkness, in the shell,
in that cry of living hell,
is the primordial light that fell,
He Whom you seek, there doth He dwell.'