--- EVER WATCHFUL ---

By John Herlihy

Ever watchful,

I roam through the streets by day,

Either cloud light or sunlight.

Shadows beckon as sun’s comforting shade;

I roam through the streets at night,

Either night light or moonlight.

Car lights sweep the dark in rays of yellow;

The glow of moonlight whispers in tones mellow,

Ever watchful.

Ever wandering,

My home is not far distant but near;

I bring my home with me, never fear.

Once prepared to leave everything behind;

The present moment is what focuses my mind.

Impossible for me to stay only in one place;

I am ever in search of that one unique space.

My footsteps have trod lesser roads to the unknown;

And the unknown has welcomes me down to the bone,

Ever wandering.

Ever wounded.

Our pain not just the cutting of flesh, breaking of bone;

We do things to ourselves and others we must atone.

Our misery and pain do not live in isolated locked chambers;

They dine together at a common table as club members.

We tread thoroughfares lurking with misery and anguish;

Dark corners of mania and crime where we may for long languish.

We live in a world of our own making, a world no one else knows;

We are hurt in the process, cutting off our face to spite our nose,

Ever wounded.

Ever weary.

I awake every morning awaiting the new day bright;

In momentary slumber, in fleeting dreams, I pass away the night.

To awaken is to forsake the dream and welcome the harsh reality;

Multiple decades have passed into mist as I cling to a false normality.

With every new obstacle, with every new wavelet that bursts upon the shore;

I see the passing days ever diminishing, as I end up with less, not more.

Whereas once I strode boldly forth with enlightened vitality;

I now make my way, aided by my walking, cane, in grim sobriety,

Ever weary.

Ever wondrous,

I witness the Divine Light everywhere,

In the firefly, in the sunset, in the shooting star’s flare.

Mother Nature paints from the palette of the Divine Rainbow;

Our entire world is cast within a supernatural luminescent glow.

I take no notice but am kept alive with the intake of every breath;

When the breath of spirit no longer fills me, I will lie down in death.

Until death knocks on my door, I will always give thanks and praise,

To the fleeting moments of my destiny, bestowed by He Who Saves.

Ever wondrous!

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(c) John Herlihy 11 November 2018