Of Souls

Along riverbanks

are where water rats

undress and lay their heads down for sleep,

and here he walks,

the moon undulating around surfacing animals

Underlying cool blue

is a flustered flame growing dim,

unaware of its depleting source

Underlying dark blue

are pale requisitions, lost pinings.

If there is a soul,

his is here, ambling the night's meridian

His thoughts cluster around small details and dispel;

in his throat well up passing ambiguities,

with no face to his destination

He stops often and rests in the sand

as ghost manifest and leave,

as tides ripple over his sandals,

and he feels the wind through his sweater, 

answering with short sighs that dispel into foggy breath

Nothing stops the spread of silver across the horizon,

growing timidly purple and pink and orange, or how

the water rats emerge and resume paused winter dances,

or the warmth returning through his limbs in the wake of dying breeze;

All these things come as they come

And if there is a soul

this is his,

in casual earthly rebirth

gazing at the old

with new eyes

Author's Note

Intended punctuation, capitalization, or lack thereof

Reviews

[Jamestown]

Imagery flying in this piece, I enjoyed reading, great message, last line
pulls it together, thanks for sharing and b-blessed!

[Celestia]

The last line really speaks to me. The water rats seem to be very magical animals.
I love it.

[Aru Bansal]

That's such an exceptional poem. I am amazed. You're an awesome writer. Hope you keep on writing masterpieces like this. :)

[Prashant Rajput]

a perfect use of imagery...I really like it.

[Bonaventure Onuabuchi]

Can't easily interpret the work, but I love the flow it goes with.

[Sabnock7]

Nice poem. So full of images and life:)

[Riss Ryker]

This piece is so FULL, so bursting with amazing imagery, I had to read it twice so as not to miss thing. Magical is the word that comes to mind after reading. Brilliant work!

I know you mentioned about intended punctuation, but there is one thing that I stumbled across as perhaps a missing word. The very first sentence you write: "Along riverbanks are where water rats and lay their heads down for sleep," My question is, where the water rats do what? Maybe live? Or walk?

[DarkRainbowPie]

Lovely piece, very well written. It shows off a great grasp of the English language. Writer's Cafe was right, you're one to watch! :)

[Lizardo]

If there is a soul, he's here.
Wow this poem had an impact on my core, this is really wonderful
Awesome poem, great job writing this one!