Driftwood*

Driftwood

 

Lines Written in Recollection of Having Discovered

A Piece of Driftwood That May or May Not

Have Been Fashioned by Nature.

 

-

 

You are a piece of driftwood, stranded on a foreign shore;

And yet I sense a thing in you that tells of something more

 

I note how like a life you are, born from the ancient sea -

 

In sodden mass and graceful sweep,

You are that thing to me

 

But in your curve and contour smooth, I note another thing -

The likeness of a god perplexed beyond his reasoning

 

Your noble nose points to the west,

Your lids droop down in care;

 

Your lips are closed in piety;

Your brow is broad and fair

 

You are the form of Man himself,

Blown here by his own breath,

 

Whose journey ends upon a beach,

Where beauty lies with death.

 

-Epilogue-

 

You make me for Eternity, you make me for today

You wrap me in a golden sleeve, and I am put away