The New Soul

28 line poem

That Life alone which I have walked at willing will,

Has been that of beach and sand and barren hill,

The surging tide towards ocean has cleansed my track,

I cannot turn, I must wade forward and never slack. 

Storm surf does not stay me from my purposed way,

I wade through wave and forge through splash and spray,

When dunes rise their mystery heads and my pulse's beat,

I am permitted rest and telescope view of my sandy retreat.

Marsh of bird and pool of peace are merging into distant stir,

While the past of emotion rush towards human is faraway blur,

Had I, a tattered scarecrow in a sea breeze and sea rise state,

Begun that walk as child, youth, and finally tortured age?

Where had come hurricane, where had submerged soul drowned?

Why had the lotus sea and the pearl lover never been found?

Had wet Adonis or beaded Venus on shell emerged from the sea,

Yea, I would have turned from shore stalker to swimmer free.

The lighthouse tower I once had passed had been empty of light,

I had faltered at the stairwell stair, but climbed that spiral's height.

The dweller had gone, his outpost signal deserted, empty of glass,

Had I, a new soul, come to the furthest point any man had yet to pass?

There is the damp of ocean, the sound of the surrender of sand,

Stubborn earth has yielded to water and here sea has mastered land,

The bleach of my hair is in tosses, and my ragged wear in tear,

I descend in slides the dune oracle and stalk to my trail's care. 

Sun rise or moon fall, sand temple or Neptune Seashore Church,

I am not beachcomber, I am not outcast but spirit in search

For should I reach new element on the beach born of water and earth,

Then spirit and soul of man himself will be borne for very rebirth. 

Raymond Lee Collins

September 13, 1991

Swallow Camp

The Midnight Hour

copyright reserved by the publisher

Carol A Wells