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Scripture in the Sand
I met some island natives
 The apple of their Eye
 Was the city behind the setting Sun
 Amid acres of rosy-red sky
 
 Their skin the color of dreaming
 Their hair like the lion’s mane
 Their cloaks and dresses quilted
 Out of freshly-fallen rain
 
 Their village was built from yew trees
 The stones were black and white
 They fed off the fragrance of the air
 And drank only cups of light
 
 To speak, for them, was singing
 To step forward was to run
 They had heard of a thousand spirits
 And that a thousand could be One
 
 Their prayers were always earnest
 They murmured through their ears
 Laughing, it was all of their laughter
 Crying, it was all of their tears
 
 They had a certain scripture
 Or a song, perhaps, in their hearts
 Which spread through the soul like a sunbeam
 Or a stag, when it leaps and darts
 
 When each day was created
 In the furnace of fiery dawn
 One would look towards the scent of the ocean
 And wander, silently, on
 
 He would reach the beach and walk until
 His feet touched upon the sea
 Then kneel to kiss the damp shore
 Which hugged his bended knee
 
 Then the sunlight lit up the fingertips
 On his gently outstretched hand
 With it, he caressed the golden shore
 And carved the Scripture into the sand
 
 The spidery words along the coast
 Would dance beneath the clouds
 They were unfurled from around a beating heart
 An opened book, an unraveled shroud
 
 I watched this many mornings
 But each day, the hungry tide
 Would sweep away the hand-carved words
 And cast my glowing eyes aside
 
 I wept for the erosion of beauty
 And for the loss of what I read
 While I sat so still upon the beach
 With a slightly bowing head
 
 The natives saw me weeping
 So they whispered unto me
 That the writing on the golden shore
 Was a gospel to the sea
 
 So now I understand the stars
 And the lines upon my hand
 And love and death and sorrow
 And the Scripture in the sand

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This article has 12 comments.
Madness is one of my many favorite bands. That particular song reminds me of Yellowstone, rain, and fence posts.
I think so, if you mean what I think you mean.
"Look, what have I become? Distancing myself so far and from
But gazing out I waved the night boat on, for now it's heaven in deepest Tottenham." I'll admit, it's not the kind of music I usually listen to, but I found it to be a great song. I spent a half hour looking over the words. Much madness is divinest sense, I guess. :)
Doth the Amoniel hear my call?
Have you ever heard the Madness song 'Fallen For A Lamppost'?
That is beautiful.
I'm glad, you answered with your spirit. It's a bit difficult asking such questions, but it's even harder for one to allow their spirit to seep into the words which they project into the world.
Lampposts, I will say, have a very large role in my odd life; I have befriended many of them. They make excellent guardians, and they know quite a lot; for they are travelers, though they appear to be rooted in the ground.
Lampposts are beacons, invitations to strange and magical worlds where they were planted into new born worlds as twisted weapons wielded by witches. The new born earth breathed new life into them, and they grew as wholesome and pure way-lighters.
Lamp posts are also quite bothersome when the full moon is out, but as with all things, they are light and dark, like their black metal and shining souls.
(I do so love strange questions, few have the courage to ask them.)
I float upon a thousand sighs, as they rise from the parted lips of the poets and the lovers, and that's how I keep the city behind the setting Sun in sight. Because breath is spirit, as you must know, and the spirit always yearns to rise.
Now, for a strange question (and one that probably won't mean anything to you): what are your thoughts of lampposts?
