to begin with he was commissioned
so dutiful he set on the journey
promptly taken by the winds
his sail weaved with the will of the chosen
under his guidance -the trusting faithful
with the daily detail _to kneel bow and pray
and they all got to take an apple
under the blissful morning sun
and to rest at its setting
all went well
but ahead the allure of troubled waters
was their undoing
no art from this ruined crew
bountiful of desires could deliver them
at the converging of the waters
with the strait dire and dangerous
he stood at the helm
with a lamp held high and his heartbeat wild
intent on stranging the night bottomless
and escape amid storms of tranquillity
so wrecked and dashing through flesh
he found the survivors at a tenebrae service
he heard at last the plain song throb
funneling its ache into the last ventricle
across the pit laid consolation
all milk and honey and a score of redress
everything useless
_he breathed profoundly
the familiar tune blowing the call to reason
turning first to ease the burst of light
then to search over his shoulder
the long shadow in his castaway strand