Wanderer Of The Woods

Wanderer Of The Woods
© Surazeus
2024 05 26

When weight of ages descends on my heart 
I sense small insignificance of the self 
that plays its role on stage of history 
till time unravels me from tapestry 
so my name and face are erased by Death 
who recycles my atoms in new beings. 

Clothed in wolf-skin vest, with bag and stone-axe, 
I stride along the sparkling river flow 
to hunt for cave, hollowed by wind and waves 
from towering cliff, as haven for rest 
where I may roast meat in faith-glowing hearth 
to feed my family with nourishing love. 

With resolute mastery of natural laws 
I build strict routine of constructive craft 
through self-rule of personal liberty 
to manage regular process of growth 
in cultural venue of the goat-nursed gods 
whose spirits in my heart guide how I live. 

When I was young, still eager to explore 
labyrinth of myths that form city maze 
of ambition, I strolled Clown Avenue 
in misty Seattle with burning heart 
to find the Holy Grail of soul rebirth, 
restless to discover role I could play. 

Near gray stone wall of the Greek-temple bank 
I saw the old man with long hair and beard 
whose narrow face, long nose, and silver eyes 
resembled gray wanderer of the woods, 
that ageless wizard of weird fairy tales 
named Odin, Merlin, Gandalf, and Zambor. 

Pausing amid the ever-hurrying crowd, 
I gazed at mirror image of my soul 
and wondered if that star-eyed seer could be 
the same Saturnus that John Keats once saw 
slumbering in shady sadness of his vale, 
quiet as the stone that flamed from the sky. 

Unsceptered though I roam this boundless Earth, 
ignoring fenced boundaries of nation-states 
where tyrants exploit mute factory slaves, 
I see face of that wizard in the mirror 
who gave to me, thirty-three years ago, 
raven-feather quill from his tattered wings. 

Though I seemed to wander long road of life 
without direction, lost in random scenes 
of disarrayed romance, I now realize 
spirit of Grannus, awake in my heart, 
has always guided me toward my grand goal 
to sing tale of human wisdom in Heaven.