Of Mortals

O creature of mould
with stars in your eyes
bright and open to heaven
yet not comprehending
heart-pangs and longings
for you know not what
and therefore
making mythos and legends,
fables and epics
of enchanted-lands,
realms of bliss and light
and a beauty all-lovely
beyond all telling,
of life aglow with innocence
and joy unbridled,
at times blending the human form
with flora and fauna,
and filling the world with gods
and elves and all the denizens of Faerie,
with talking beasts and trees,
betraying a haunting sense
of a separation from Nature,
a painful innocence-loss,
an echoing of an ancient wound,
and seeing in the myths and deities created
a magic-mirror reflecting back to earth-eyes
something of what could have existed ~
But at times, as through ever-slight fissures,
a glinting light leaps out:
in children at play laughing
clear and clean,
goodly company
of smiles and joy
and kindly faces,
friendly voices in conversation,
charming village cottages,
with twinkling home-fires
and candlelight in windows,
family warmth
and sweet embrace,
dancings and fair motions,
sparkling tears of joy,
a mother’s love,
fair maidens singing
with a heart-tenderness,
children in choir
making glad melody,
melancholy string-airs
beautiful beyond words,
books of holy wisdom
and epic tales
of knights in quest,
of chivalry and valour,
of mortals in converse
with speaking-beasts
and faerie-folk,
minstrelsy made
to match the longings
and soarings of human-heart,
in solitary voice plaintive,
and in chorus grand and glorious,
created beauty in art,
of paintings and sculptures,
carved woods and stones,
richly woven tapestries,
grand soaring architecture
with intricate carvings,
folk adorned with raiment fair,
and with gems and precious metals,
all to replace the fair covering of light-lost,
the parade of races and cultures,
the vast myriad of languages
and volumes of lore,
the colour and pageantry
of history marching onwards
in pursuit of something
lost from ancient times,
an exile-race wandering,
pursuing a faint memory,
a fading echo
down the halls of time ~