Earth’s Exile
By John Herlihy

I seek true adventures of the earthly kind;
I trek through the wilderness of the human mind.
Truth’s deep mysteries lie in wait to be unveiled;
Time’s arrow lies in readiness, never to be curtailed.
Unraveling In a measured unfolding, one step at a time,
Until earth’s exiles meet death’s threshold always on time.

We hear in our footsteps the steady ticking of earth’s clock;
Life is measured step by step with the sound of the clip, clop.
Life’s journey flows as a river, through every pour to seep;
It pauses at every milestone, its promises to gather and keep.
We are all of us seeking pilgrims lost in the land of earthly exile,
Equipped with faculties and intuitions to make the trek in style.

Our noble senses identify everything in its proper place;
Our cognitive reason paints color upon the human face.
A face that records the reds and blues of conflicting emotions,
That are given birth and run freely thru our human devotions.
Our imaginations thrive on fantasies in an unpredictable realm;
The mind takes up its residence in the ship of state’s helm.

Across the land, we meet up with a panoply of human figures,
Who wear medallions of evil in their hearts as proud insignias.
With the likes of such people, we must take care and beware,
Lest we fall into their insidious trap, lying in wait to ensnare.
Perhaps we gather our inner forces and lay a trap of our own,
Replete with all the good will and fulfillment I have ever known.

May I animate everything in life with my own passion and desire;
May I handle the human emotions as if they were burning with fire.
May I give back to the world more than what the world gave me;
Phantom mirages, mysteries and miracles for all the world to see.
May I finally earn the right of passage to come in out of earth’s exile,
To gather the entire ledger of my destiny and take my leave in style.