An Unfinished Ballad

Fred
Dread silhouettes in front of wall
They wander through the night…
Against pale Moon, downwards its fall
Emitting deadly light -
In deepest black the fires blink,
The sins they’re burning bright.

In rusty gyves of former lives
They walk beneath the stones;
They’ve passed away, the Lord’s last prey,
Laid here their pallid bones -
Inside the mist we all exist,
Like them we make no moans.

We cannot see our Destiny -
As the blind men, we aroam
Our secret path, till creeping Death
Will guide us to our home;
But dwelling in the ancient night
Just leaves us all alone.

We wait for Love - it hears us not,
For Pain is always here;
We wait for Sense, for God’s defence -
But the hope will disappear
For only thief gets his relief;
Deliverance comes near.

Eternal only are the words -
A wise man’s heaviest blame;
Eternal waste has a bitter taste
And Aeons in its flame,
Eternal blaze where the Prophet burns:
His word he spake in vain…

And, tide by tide, the shadows throng
Within this restless dance;
This rustling crowd of strangers found
Themselves through empty glance,
So still they wander all around, -
Souls that are damned, - in trance.

(November 1996 - March 1997)