In a lost whirlwind of yesteryear's life
Whispering into my aching memory
Comes floating out of sea of silent forlorn faces
A face of lost beauty, a face filled with light
A face out too far,
Just beyond the reach
Of my groping outstretched hand
And in reaching too far, a perilous feat
I slip and tumble crashing to the sand
On the beach, many, many miles down
I wipe the tears with the back of my hand
Feel the sweat, smell the blood
Taste those bitter tears
Watching them mingle and escape on the retreating tide
If I said I never loved her
Then you'd know it was a lie
If I'm not betrayed by my quivering voice
Then it can be read in my eyes
Ever faithful, always true
When the lips form the lies
"So my young friend," the Piper's ghost laughed
"Are you not ready for the game?
Can't you see? It's all the same players
Only the voices have changed."
I looked up but he was gone
"Don't leave me now." I whispered
But that was blown away with the wind
Leaving me empty and hollow
With only a fleeting glimpse of that evil laughter
So long have I searched for it's master
Chased o'er the rolling hills
And forgotten meadows of the Asylum
Another day, another night
Another strange hotel
Another strange woman beside me
"Do you love?" the Jester asked
"Do you dare? Do you care to say you know?"
He taunted, and haunted, yet another reflection
In my own mirror to the past
Like all the rest, it never lasts
I got up, and dressed
Left cab fare on the dresser
And walked out into the still night
So careful to shut the door quietly
As not to wake her gentle crescent
My quest not yet complete
I ran, ran to the distance
Looking for love, or life
Or to catch up with that madman
Whose laughter haunts my ears
Haunts my soul.
I told her that I loved her
And that much was true
So we loved
Until that cruel, biting wind of winter
Blew the candle's light away
And as I scrambled in the sudden darkness
To find some sort of hope
Some purchase, she slipped away
And once again I heard the madman laugh
In the distance I heard
Those lunatic, maniacal gasps
Screaming out anything but joy
And I grew afraid
In my searching,
Had I chosen my own path to damnation?
Risking my last and final attempt for salvation?
Leaving my past, finally for the quest
And the Hunt
O the Hunt!
Under moonlight, the witch light shadow land, I ran. My heart raced like quicksilver, thumping loudly in my undulating breast. I felt them coming, not seeing, just knowing they were there. Hiding in the darkness, holding aloft their blazing torches, shedding grimy shadows on the still waters of the lake
"Over this way!" the persecutors called. They, the fiends, were heading my way. Making their slow lumbering cavalry charge, crashing through the woods. Nothing shall step in the way of my quest! I took to earth, and my warm Mother encased me and wrapped her arms 'round, and 'round and 'round and...
On the road again
"Love!" the cacophony called
Their voices rising in a hellish, screaming outrage
"Love!"
I felt the fears once more
Yet again I was on the shore
My broken battered body
Begging me for sleep
Or to slip into the deeps
And wake again no more
"I have searched long," I said
"searching in the dark sorrows,
Looking for no tomorrow,
In the eyes of the helpless, the hopeless
I have looked for love."
I pondered a moment
And felt it rising in my throat
The love was always there
Right before my eyes, but now it's gone
And I don't, no can't wonder why
My mouth opened up to the rain
To let out the final laugh of pain
A sudden gale, no longer sane
And in hearing that true laugh for the first time
I knew then in the end, all along
The laughs were always mine
Always, always, mine.