Formerly for Lovers

Rivers that flow to the Bay unbounded

Glistening from rays, heaven-descended

Cardinals dip down as visitors from above.

Plush grass cushioning my weary feet

Through spindly branches of pine, soft breezes

Wave welcome, bid refuge to travelers all.

Where yet traditions centered our course

What once resounded over centuries

Must be cast off for the sins of our fathers.

We are cut off now without a past

Grounded in all but nothing presently

Looming ahead, our lack of future awaits.

Though discarded among the ruins

We but divert our torments and smother

Afflictions with attachments endless and cheap.

Materials skimming across skin

Today, they soothe the broken flesh thusly

Tomorrow, they are cast into the oven.

I have no refuge for my soul here

Only an empty salve with no relief

Land of birth, to you I’ve become a stranger.

Where shall I flee, elude this bleak end?

Shadows dispatched from Sheol encircle

Tendrils of tyranny gather at my throat.

Friend, neighbor, statesman recognize me

No longer--my name shall now be Mara.

Until the close, my heart chants insistently.

This world is not my home.