Deserts and Mountains


In the centre of life, of feeling,
I sat with you on a beach of strangers
with the restless moon, the careless moon
throwing her light on lovers and sinners,
on the wise and the broken and the blind.

The stars are dying, the planets burning.
Happiness is sad and sadness happy,
never to compare, never to contrast.
All seasons must pass into memory,
all seasons are reborn in future memories.

I crossed deserts and mountains with you,
oceans and continents, flew through the air,
swam with fish, travelled underground,
remembering the shape of light,
the colour of touch, the words of silence.

At the end of life I will sit with you,
sit with you on a beach of old friends
with the careful moon, the restful moon
holding vigil, her light bringing peace
to the wise and the joyous and the kind.