Meditations on the Sands

By: Zenui Posted on: November 02, 2004

I sit here on the shore
Far remote on dunes of sand
Mountains to my east guard
The Maker's valley from my mortal sight
Frozen wastes to the north
And a barrier beyond that
Vast ocean deeps to the west
Impassable, a wall of water
And south, all I have left behind me
No man approaches, I am alone but for
The foaming steeds of Neraeos
As they pound against the shore
And Lady Sol casts her rays upon me

And strange my knowledge of these,
My only source from the heat and the sound they give me
For my eyes are silent, and the world is dark
Bayberry's pungent sweetness, stealing sight away
Now I am a world unto myself,
I see no other

Oh, how many steps have I taken?
How many years has it taken?
It was a journey only of days, yet it seems eternity
How many miles have my feet trod,
A thousand? Nay!
Ten thousands does not even seem enough
Were it my feet that pounded
This stony earth to sands and dunes?
I would not be surprised,
I feel like I have walked
From edge to edge of infinity
And felt the circumference and center of all
As the world turned beneath my soles

I draw my hand through the wave-piled grains
Sifting through their ancient mysteries
Memories echo through me
As the grasslands wave near me
And I walk on shores of the sea of the mind

Khalas, I seem to feel Your condemned Being here
Did Your wandering take here ere You fell?
Ah, the weight of judgment!
Unyielding as Your now stony form
Is it Thy truest torment that Thou cannot ramble evermore?
The spark put out, the seed sown on the rock!
The destruction of genius, doomed as it may be.
Will You ever walk Your dream again?

Those first human seekers who left long ago
One to the northern wastes
The other to the seas of the west
Did you find what you were looking for?
Does your explorer blood flow in my veins?
My soul seems to have inherited your ancient quest

My Lady, do I hear Thy Voice?
In your palace in realms of crystal
Do Your thoughts touch those whom You left behind?
When I listen, between the world and the soul
I believe You do, and speak to us still

And a memory of radiant waters breaks upon me
Crashing down from cliffs on high
I walked there, talked there,
Watched the sun come up
Do you remember those times?
A cleft in the rock,
That quiet grotto veiled by wall of foam
Are they forgotten?
Have I forgotten?

I look blindly to the waves
And as I listen, a calmness settles upon me
Comforts me, heartens me
Though I see nothing, I see everything
A solemn reassurance in the soul
A freedom beyond the deeds of the past
For when I look within I see without
And know that I am not truly lost

Stillness reigns in my soul
In the silence of my mind I hear a truer voice
And in that refuge the infinite mystery
Is equal to the simplest knowledge
I have tended to the inner seed
And drank the tonic of Eternal Truth
I need no other pleasures.