Craig Hammond

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=210 BGCOLOR="#99CC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03f8dfc3.jpg"> <div>                                                   </div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=82 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0408dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Warp Experience</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Warp Experience"><U><B>home</B></U></A><B>     </B><A HREF="id81.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles"><U><B>Articles</B></U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=398 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0408dfc3.jpg"> <div> <I><U>Anthelion</U></I></div> <bR> <div> <I>     </I></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> By Craig Hammond (June 2005)</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I>Anthelion </I></div> <bR> <div> I learned to map read from an early age, </div> <div> from old paths and journeys - </div> <div> passed down to me - </div> <div> from them. </div> <bR> <div> Journeys that they </div> <div> themselves </div> <div> had been taken on, </div> <div> from way back, </div> <div> since before they could even remember:</div> <bR> <div> Places that once you have visited, they always stay with you, </div> <div> no matter how far you try to stray from them, </div> <div> or wander,</div> <div> their whispers always remain. </div> <bR> <div> A lot of the journey-paths are open </div> <div> and well worn, passing through shallow woodland, </div> <div> and you can see that many people know of these; </div> <div> but some of the paths - only the initiated know of. </div> <bR> <div> The narrowest of the paths meander </div> <div> down towards the thickness of the forest, </div> <div> and brush along the density of its inhaling vastness; </div> <div> before falling into its veiled borders, enveloped </div> <div> by its dark mysteries:  </div> <bR> <div> The forest dwellers pass the knowledge </div> <div> of the lonely, hidden paths onto their descendents - </div> <div> a rite of passage, </div> <div> murky inter-generational secrets - </div> <div> simply the way it has always been, </div> <div> and the way it will be. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Where we shall land no more</B></div> <bR> <div> We instantly knew each other; </div> <div> we were not from a direct family line, </div> <div> but it must have been a coded glimpse, </div> <div> somehow, </div> <div> of the secret place within each of us; </div> <bR> <div> an expression, or </div> <div> an accidental comment, unintentionally codified </div> <div> and sub-consciously deciphered. </div> <bR> <div> But because of this, we just knew </div> <div> that forest people dwelled within both of our families, </div> <div> without actually speaking about it - infant telepathy, </div> <div> attuned to the secret messages of the ancient trees.</div> <bR> <div> Knowledge of the forest isn't something </div> <div> that you're ever really supposed to speak about; </div> <div> especially when you're young, </div> <div> even with the other fledgling wanderers </div> <div> making the forest-journeys. </div> <bR> <div> The same path is rarely, </div> <div> if ever, </div> <div> taken with others; </div> <div> the forest is too vast, too dark </div> <div> and twisted that no one ever really can. </div> <bR> <div> And it's part of the unwritten lore </div> <div> that you never reveal your lineage to anyone, </div> <div> else shame and punishment be brought upon the family.</div> <bR> <div> This definitely </div> <div> seemed to consolidate our unorthodox friendship; </div> <div> the things we increasingly knew, </div> <div> and the things we increasingly knew that we couldn't </div> <div> speak about, </div> <div> meant that we communicated </div> <div> in different ways. </div> <bR> <div> It was always lonely when </div> <div> we returned from the forest journeys with our guides, </div> <div> but we had each other, </div> <div> and our secret words and </div> <div> hide-away embraces gave us our very own world of </div> <div> warmth, security and affection, </div> <div> away from the darkness of the others - the forest dwellers, and all beyond. </div> <bR> <div> Our hideaway was a watchtower-fortress </div> <div> that we'd built over the top of the coal-dump, </div> <div> at the far end of his backyard. </div> <bR> <div> If this should ever come under the threat of attack, </div> <div> or infiltration, we would skilfully </div> <div> descend the yard wall, </div> <div> split-up </div> <div> and escape in skirmished zigzags </div> <div> along our separate and practised escape routes. </div> <bR> <div> From here, </div> <div> we would re-group half-way up the <I>Magic Faraway Tree</I>, </div> <div> that stood in our secret clearing, </div> <div> on the edge of the forest.</div> <bR> <div> Stolen summer days, </div> <div> delicately winged recollections of</div> <div> bright warm days, </div> <bR> <div> carried along with the floating white seeds of </div> <div> London's Pride, </div> <div> over soft-tarred railway sleepers, </div> <div> and into hazy-pollen fields </div> <div> were the days that used to be ours - no paths, no guides </div> <bR> <div> and on particularly clear days, </div> <div> we would scale the full height of the tree, </div> <div> and come to rest -</div> <div> hidden deep within the billowing-green foliage; </div> <bR> <div> from here we would gaze over </div> <div> to the other children, </div> <div> who were far off in the distance, </div> <div> and could always be seen playing in the sand, </div> <div> along the Coastline of Innocence. </div> <bR> <div> They filled us with wonder, </div> <div> and we'd sit there awhile </div> <div> in silent thought. </div> <bR> <div> Occasionally, we would whisper questions </div> <div> about them </div> <div> up to the Wig Bird who nested </div> <div> way, way up - </div> <div> just out of our reach, beyond the highest bough. </div> <bR> <div> This strange tufted creature had a very long name, </div> <div> we could never say it properly, </div> <div> to us it just sounded like a </div> <div> big word. </div> <bR> <div> He would always respond </div> <div> telling us the same story, </div> <div> that one day, </div> <div> after many dark adventures a </div> <div> Light-Keeper will come </div> <div> to us in our sleep, </div> <div> and guide us to those clear blue waters. </div> <bR> <div> Always, afterwards, </div> <div> we would look back across </div> <div> to that place where </div> <div> we no longer belonged, </div> <div> and dreamed.</div> <bR> <div> Shorter days </div> <div> and falling leaves would always return </div> <div> to warn us of impending winter. </div> <bR> <div> Helplessly drawn </div> <div> to the beautiful death of autumn </div> <div> we would return to the watchtower, </div> <div> or the tree; </div> <div> and from our vantage point, we would see </div> <div> that the chill of winter </div> <div> never seemed to bite the other children as much as we.</div> <bR> <div> And then came our last Autumn; </div> <div> we were young warriors of the forest now, </div> <div> our bodies had changed, </div> <div> our voices had changed; </div> <bR> <div> we spoke, and we knew that </div> <div> it was the last time </div> <div> that we were going to see each other. </div> <bR> <div> We tried to make sense of the strange places </div> <div> that we had been to, together - and with our guides. </div> <bR> <div> But our words were clumsy and inadequate, </div> <div> so we kissed </div> <div> and embraced in the same way that we had always done. </div> <bR> <div> After, I told him that he would always </div> <div> be in my thoughts and dreams</div> <div> and then he was gone.</div> <bR> <div> And then I left, </div> <div> and set out on my journey </div> <div> to try and find the answer. </div> <bR> <div> There are many lost souls out in the wilderness, </div> <div> and they gravitate </div> <div> to each other in the strangest and </div> <div> sometimes most dark and beautiful ways, </div> <div> trying to forget </div> <div> the paths and monsters that they have encountered; </div> <bR> <div> but the old paths strike deep into the soul, </div> <div> and travel deep - </div> <div> underneath the superficial cloaks </div> <div> that we loosely drape over the entry-wounds.</div> <bR> <div> <B>A picture in my heart</B></div> <bR> <div> I reached the empty shoreline; </div> <div> and set off walking </div> <div> through the hazy dawn sunshine. </div> <bR> <div> A gentle swirling breeze from nowhere </div> <div> invisibly caressed my skin, </div> <div> and the slight-yellow warmth </div> <div> of the new-bourn sun </div> <div> beckoned me to follow. </div> <bR> <div> As I wandered, </div> <div> the beautiful expanse of the eternal ocean </div> <div> made me feel more alone than ever.</div> <bR> <div> And when the sun made its silent retreat, </div> <div> into the depths of the dark night</div> <div> I'd lie awake - and create a picture in my mind; </div> <bR> <div> a picture of the most beautiful light - </div> <div> that would embrace me </div> <div> with the sun in her heart. </div> <bR> <div> I would open my shirt </div> <div> and let her light pour into my void,</div> <div> and in the warmth, </div> <div> I'd crawl into the blanket of sleep, </div> <div> and drift; </div> <bR> <div> here I would dream </div> <div> of seeing one of the children who shone: </div> <div> those that we used to see from the tree. </div> <bR> <div> Often my wounds hurt, </div> <div> and I'd heard that salt-water was a natural healer, </div> <div> so one morning </div> <div> I decided to swim out </div> <div> towards the depths of the deep ocean.  </div> <bR> <div> I closed my eyes, </div> <div> slowly - deeply inhaled, </div> <div> and positioned my face </div> <div> towards the light. </div> <bR> <div> I waded in </div> <div> and immersed myself into the rippled, </div> <div> translucent sky-mirror. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Gently, </div> <div> I pushed my feet - off </div> <div> from the corrugated sand-ridges, beneath. </div> <bR> <div> Gliding onto my back, </div> <div> I exhaled, kicked, and drifted. </div> <bR> <div> The warmth of the sun sparkled down on to my face, </div> <div> and my ache receded slightly </div> <div> as I remembered the distant voice of the Wig Bird. </div> <bR> <div> The music of the breeze - </div> <div> a gentle, shimmering rustle </div> <div> of distant leaves, </div> <div> carried me away with the bird-song up into the sky.</div> <bR> <div> After a time, </div> <div> the warmth of the sun disappeared from my face, </div> <div> and I felt delicate ripples </div> <div> and droplets of water, wash and splash over me. </div> <bR> <div> I opened my eyes and saw her. </div> <bR> <div> She said that she had seen me </div> <div> drifting alone from way over in the distance, </div> <div> and she had become strangely fascinated by the dark hole </div> <div> that ran right through my soul, </div> <div> as the sunlight just seemed to endlessly fall into it. </div> <bR> <div> As she looked down over me, </div> <div> the sun silhouetted her form, </div> <div> and emanated uneven shards of brilliant white. </div> <bR> <div> I gazed at her aura of pure light, </div> <div> and recognised her </div> <div> from the picture that I had dreamt about. </div> <bR> <div> I asked her if she had grown-up on the Coastline of Innocence; </div> <div> she had, </div> <div> and she said that I was funny </div> <div> as there were strange shadows in between the words that I spoke. </div> <bR> <div> As time passed, </div> <div> I stripped away the layers </div> <div> and slowly opened up my entry-wounds, </div> <div> the pathways into the forest. </div> <bR> <div> I wanted her to fill </div> <div> the sunken, twisted by-ways and secret trails </div> <div> with her light - and cauterise them. </div> <bR> <div> Sealed from the outside </div> <div> I could be free from the sucking emptiness. </div> <bR> <div> I opened my shirt and showed her my map.</div> <bR> <div> I took her hand, </div> <div> and guided her </div> <div> along one of the paths </div> <div> into the forest. </div> <bR> <div> When we arrived, the embers </div> <div> of her bright-white innocence </div> <div> began to fade, </div> <div> and we fell through my continent </div> <div> and into an uncharted abyss. </div> <bR> <div> In the morning, </div> <div> I awoke to find her face soaked in tears, </div> <div> she said that my darkness was too deep </div> <div> and vast, </div> <div> and that she could only cry at the loneliness </div> <div> of the memories strewn along the way. </div> <bR> <div> She told me that I had taken all of her light, </div> <div> and she could no longer see. </div> <bR> <div> I asked her not to leave, </div> <div> because I loved her so deeply </div> <div> that it went all the way through to forever. </div> <bR> <div> But she said that she had to go. </div> <bR> <div> Having been here before, </div> <div> I knew that there was a hidden door </div> <div> that led out from this place, </div> <div> so I led us both out to the beach, </div> <div> and only her footprints remained.  </div> <bR> <div> <I>The Watcher in the Dark</I></div> <bR> <div> A cold-night breeze blew </div> <div> across the deserted shoreline, </div> <div> the swell chopped, and a shifting pattern </div> <div> swirled and swarmed across the surface of the water - </div> <div> an undulating, jagged coat of silver-moon armour. </div> <bR> <div> The rasping night-air whistled and muffled </div> <div> around my numbing ears, and</div> <div> had almost coaxed me to my knees,</div> <bR> <div> when over in the dense blackness - </div> <div> amidst the sand-dunes and rock-banks,</div> <div> a flickering yellow</div> <div> from a distant fire … Pierced through the tear-wells of my streaming eyes,</div> <div> and persuaded me to seek out </div> <div> whatever shelter that there might be.</div> <bR> <div> I stumbled through</div> <div> the side-swiping sand</div> <div> and the rushes and rocks,</div> <bR> <div> And arrived at the solitary beacon - </div> <div> next to which </div> <div> sat a dark-cloaked figure. </div> <bR> <div> He turned and bid me to come and take refuge</div> <div> from the biting night-cold, </div> <div> and shelter in his cave.</div> <bR> <div> I asked what the place was </div> <bR> <div> and he said that Wanderers come here to hide </div> <div> and forget about the distant Ships </div> <div> that glisten far off </div> <div> and pass-by, with their unattainable cargoes.</div> <bR> <div> Tired and empty </div> <div> I entered the mouth </div> <div> and huddled down with the Hiders.</div> <bR> <div> Some of the newer half-hidden dwellers </div> <div> attempted to ignite an old story </div> <div> of creating a raft - to set out </div> <div> to reach one of the Ships, and escape. </div> <bR> <div> But those that were now chained to the darkness </div> <div> spoke out great-black rain clouds, </div> <div> that gushed forth an angry torrent, </div> <div> drowning out the hopeful sparks. </div> <bR> <div> The Watcher then sealed their fate, </div> <div> whispering into the tears in their souls, he told them</div> <div> that the rafts would take them to their deaths, </div> <div> as the ships </div> <div> were nothing more </div> <div> than cruel shapes - cast by the Sun </div> <div> along the distant shelf of tomorrow; </div> <bR> <div> and that Tomorrow is always such a terribly long-way off. </div> <div> so let the warmth and the darkness </div> <div> take your mind away from there, </div> <div> and bring it back here, to rest into the empty echo of now.         </div> <bR> <div> His words spoke deeply into</div> <div> My ruptures, </div> <div> and I decided to Hide awhile.</div> <bR> <div> A solemn figure </div> <div> sat in the darkest recess of the cave;</div> <div> her body and face hidden by the shadows, </div> <bR> <div> The breeze-licked flames </div> <div> at the mouth of the cave </div> <div> cast an occasional shard of dancing light </div> <div> across her thin, huddled body. </div> <bR> <div> I could see that the flesh on her feet was scarred </div> <div> with old and recent lacerations.</div> <bR> <div> She noticed me </div> <div> looking over at the charted Countries </div> <div> mapped-out on her flesh. </div> <bR> <div> I learned that she cut them, </div> <div> as it helped her release </div> <div> the last vestiges of Light-Dreams </div> <div> that occasionally visited the horizons of her troubled thoughts … </div> <bR> <div> so that before they could take form </div> <div> and light the touch-paper of her tears, </div> <div> she'd take a piece of dark flint </div> <div> and cut into the soul's of her feet; </div> <bR> <div> blood-tear droplets would fall and coagulate in the fine sand, </div> <div> and form a dark pool of never-remember.</div> <bR> <div> I ventured back out to The Watcher, </div> <div> and asked for a black rose with a particularly long stem. </div> <bR> <div> Returning to the shadows </div> <div> I intertwined the needle-sharp barb </div> <div> so as to bind our arms; </div> <div> and with a final twist - the dripping thorns </div> <div> pierced our flesh, </div> <div> and my thoughts ran away with me into the lower depths of the cave.</div> <div> <I><B>When trolls venture out</B></I></div> <bR> <div> Sometimes </div> <div> the quiet loneliness of a life within </div> <div> becomes too much, </div> <div> and one time I shouted - a desperate yawp, </div> <div> out into the empty darkness; </div> <bR> <div> I watched the frantic Imp of the sprawling noise </div> <div> dissipate into the night. </div> <bR> <div> I listened awhile, </div> <div> and on the cool crisp air, </div> <div> I heard your voice drift slowly back towards me </div> <div> and caress my face, </div> <bR> <div> before kissing my ear, </div> <div> and taking refuge in my mind. </div> <bR> <div> I recognised the tones within the spaces of the echo, </div> <div> and knew that it was you.</div> <bR> <div> We came together at the old Millstone on the Moors, </div> <div> and drank the intoxicating nectar </div> <div> of the clear stream </div> <div> and each others company. </div> <bR> <div> As we chatted, </div> <div> I went against the lore of the forest </div> <div> and mentioned that I knew of many routes into the Dark Land - </div> <div> sought out by many generations of my family, </div> <div> and that for many years now, </div> <div> I had been searching for a Light-keeper - </div> <div> whom I needed to find, </div> <div> as the rhythm of my beating drum was beginning </div> <div> to fade </div> <div> and seal over. </div> <bR> <div> I knew that I didn't want it to become sealed </div> <div> and quiet, </div> <div> as this would banish me to eternal residence </div> <div> within the familial forest.</div> <bR> <div> Through the inter-</div> <div> mingling condensation clouds </div> <div> of our exhaled breath, </div> <div> I could see the glistening stars of the universe </div> <div> in your eyes, </div> <div> and I asked you where you had gotten them; </div> <bR> <div> and you told me, </div> <div> saying that occasionally </div> <div> people are forced to visit the forest, </div> <div> even though there are no forest dwellers in their family. </div> <bR> <div> You told me that </div> <div> the thickest, darkest </div> <div> shades of deep-forest green </div> <div> hide from sight many monsters </div> <bR> <div> where they feed on poisonous fruit, </div> <div> and quench their thirst </div> <div> with the foulest of waters. </div> <bR> <div> When they are bloated from gorging, </div> <div> and bursting for release, </div> <div> they venture out of the dark-and-the-creaking</div> <div> and steal an Innocent from nearby woodland.</div> <bR> <div> One day, </div> <div> two Trolls seized their moment </div> <div> when your father was tending the sheep, </div> <div> one of them ran to you, </div> <div> and as you tried to escape you tripped and fell, </div> <div> and they carried you off </div> <div> along one of the remote paths into the forest. </div> <bR> <div> In their lair </div> <div> they threw you onto a bed of Hyacinth </div> <div> and each put some of their poison into you - </div> <div> they had been poisoned when they were young, </div> <div> and it had become so rancid and gone so deep, </div> <div> that there was nothing left of the light. </div> <bR> <div> They took the stars from your eyes that day, </div> <div> and left only the darkness of the forest.</div> <bR> <div> But, I said that you had stars again - </div> <div> because I could see them: </div> <bR> <div> You drew close to my ear, </div> <div> and whispered that an Angel </div> <div> had given them back to you. </div> <bR> <div> I asked where I could find the Angels, </div> <div> as I thought that they might be able to take me </div> <div> to the Light Keeper; </div> <div> but your face became sombre. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> You told me how the poison </div> <div> ate away at you so much, </div> <div> that one day,</div> <div>  </div> <div> after taking care of the well-being of your own little Innocents, </div> <div> you drank a special potion </div> <div> that enabled you to clamber into the basket of a huge white balloon, </div> <div> that took you far, far away from the forest, </div> <div> up through the clouds and past the sky.</div> <bR> <div> As you drifted off </div> <div> into the deepest of sleep, </div> <div> an Angel came to you, </div> <div> and said that she understood why you had come, </div> <div> but she needed you to go back down, </div> <div> to tell the other wanderers of the forest </div> <div> of a different path. </div> <bR> <div> You should tell them that each night </div> <div> the Whisperers from the Stars </div> <div> come to all of them in their troubled sleep - </div> <div> to beckon them to the safety of the streams</div> <div> in the woods and fields; </div> <bR> <div> you should tell them to follow. </div> <bR> <div> They can bathe in the healing moonlight, </div> <div> and wash away the poison of the forest. </div> <bR> <div> To help you in your journey, </div> <div> she placed some healing stars into your eyes - </div> <div> so that others may see.</div> <bR> <div> I looked into your eyes, </div> <div> and saw the beauty of heaven there.</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Whispers of Light</B></I></div> <bR> <div> We set up camp in a clearing with a stream, </div> <div> enclosed by thickets and Woodland.</div> <bR> <div> and You tell me </div> <div> that now is the time …</div> <bR> <div> but I'm afraid.</div> <bR> <div> So you embrace me, kiss me</div> <div> And invite me</div> <div> to lie down</div> <div> amongst the evening fresh bluebells.</div> <bR> <div> Our eyes closed in oneness</div> <div> You begin to sing in Angel-tongue whispers</div> <div> to the stars.</div> <bR> <div> A sweet-scented air-caress</div> <div> signals Their arrival.</div> <bR> <div> They come to rest next to me,</div> <div> place their hands into my heart</div> <div> and onto my head;</div> <bR> <div> and I begin to see the roots of the Forest: </div> <div> <I><B> </B></I></div> <div> <B>Space Cowboy</B></div> <bR> <div> Gazing inward</div> <div> from the centre of the Wooded clearing</div> <div> I can see me -</div> <div> Trapped in the memories of the Forest. </div> <bR> <div> I'm on a battered </div> <div> red and yellow plastic tractor - </div> <div> with black pedals </div> <div> attached to either side of the front wheel. </div> <bR> <div> And I'm slowly riding round in circles; </div> <bR> <div> I have my favourite silver NASA jacket on, </div> <div> army trousers, </div> <div> and my black felt cowboy hat </div> <div> with a silver starred badge attached to the front.</div> <bR> <div> The space cowboy </div> <div> turns, and looks out to me - </div> <div> with his silent thoughtful eyes, </div> <div> and I look back at him and </div> <div> I'm crying, </div> <bR> <div> I want to tell him </div> <div> that those things weren't his fault. </div> <bR> <div> Oh - to run in there and grab him, </div> <div> so that we can both make a dash for it, </div> <div> through to the ends of the forest, </div> <div> not stopping until we make it down to the shore - </div> <div> where we can set sail </div> <div> to somewhere far away on some driftwood. </div> <bR> <div> But I can't move, </div> <div> as I'm crying so deeply, </div> <div> so hard, </div> <div> that no breath can escape my mouth; </div> <div> my chest overburdened with decades of cry </div> <div> gushing all at once.</div> <bR> <div> So I blow a whispered thought </div> <div> over to his pale solemn mind; </div> <div> to say sorry </div> <div> for the wasted and lost years that he's been dragged through, </div> <bR> <div> followed by years of oblivion, </div> <div> filth and silent rage, </div> <div> and that I wanted so desperately for it to be different. </div> <bR> <div> I just wanted him to know </div> <div> that I was searching out other maps </div> <div> and looking for different paths, </div> <div> but at the end of each of them, </div> <bR> <div> I was still left alone with myself - </div> <bR> <div> I just couldn't escape me </div> <div> and the shadows that had been left behind in my soul.</div> <bR> <div> And then I see the most brilliant light</div> <div> expanding amidst the silver-point stars.</div> <bR> <div> The twisted Shadows that had been lingering </div> <div> and peering from behind the Forest-line </div> <div> shrink and disperse, </div> <div> back into the blackness. </div> <bR> <div> And then I see Him,</div> <div> the Light-Keeper, with a face so bright</div> <div> that I can't make out the details of his features. </div> <bR> <div> He walks over towards the forest,</div> <div> And takes hold of the hand of the Space Cowboy; </div> <bR> <div> he looks up towards the Light-Keeper - and smiles,</div> <div> he can see that he's going home. </div> <bR> <div> They both walk over to where I lay, </div> <div> so I gather myself up </div> <div> onto my knees, </div> <div> reach out and hold the Space Cowboy and squeeze him so tightly. </div> <bR> <div> He kisses my cheek</div> <div> and as the grip of the Bind-Weed starts to diminish  </div> <div> I can feel that my empty caverns </div> <div> are being filled with the most amazing Light of human love.</div> <bR> <div> I let him go</div> <div> and they turn and begin to walk away.</div> <bR> <div> I can see his silver NASA jacket glint</div> <div> as they walk from the forest and ascend into the freedom of the Light.</div> <bR> <div> I give myself up to the Light,</div> <div> enclosed in the diamond sun of a warm kiss</div> <div> I want to follow</div> <div> and go to sleep</div> <div> In the breathless light;</div> <bR> <div> But the hands of many</div> <div> take hold of my form</div> <div> and bring me back down to rest.</div> <bR> <div> And in the dreams of my healing sleep, </div> <div> I gather-up an infinite Star-Trail </div> <div> to scatter </div> <div> across the lonely paths of the Wanderers </div> <div> in the midst of their dark nights,</div> <bR> <div> to beckon them</div> <div> to their rafts,</div> <bR> <div> to the ships.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>