Parting dregs

I am a chastened soul
Take me higher,
Beyond these tall sights
To our home

I won’t turn away
If you take my hand
Beyond this horizon
Through the shadow land

And we soar like the shadow birds
Swift before this shallow earth
Soars o’er us;
Beyond its setting

Time to take another walk:
And to let another’s be my fate
And be conjoined
Before all fades

And which fingers are yours?
Where are mine?
Both, I and thine,
I can’t tell...

---

Arcadia’s hills have never been so dear
I fear a part of you
Drawing close, too near
From beyond this horizon

But when I was young,
I saw the sun, sparkling
Glistening in the morn
From beyond that dawn

And now, those hills
Remembered from my fleeting youth
Appear again as we walk,
You and I...

So, my precious one
I thank you now
As I see me three feet below
A memory, lost in eternity

There’s only now
There’s only us
No past, no future, no dust
Only these moments

---

As the light fades
The dusk walks close
The curtain draws
Upon benign hope

Just as seasons all tread
In times lofty bed
Our time here ushers
Parting dregs

So the sand count
Quietly drains
Our last thoughts,
On that last shore
Stealing time,
Stealing foam;
‘Til those hills
Remembered from my fleeting youth
Recede again as we walk home
In opposite directions

© Ephraim M Luwemba