Bright Eyes

Bright Eyes stare back,
Doe-like and un-gripping
They gaze through a mask of sin.
Not a word, not a stir
Flits across that mask,
Like mist above water,
In the looking-through-glass.

What gave you that face?
In this time, for this place?
What role do you undertake?
Did they tell you?
Do you know?
The chime of your life is at stake.

The wind shall blow
And the trees shall scrape and sigh.
The birds will not quiet,
Their bows will not break,
Your existence has stopped with the die.

What change has occurred?
What word?
How absurd!
You made not a change,
To the shadows or flames,
Nor to the affairs of the heart;
Your bones not arranged,
Nor your carcass misplaced,
The blood of no tears will fall.

So,
Bright Eyes
Show me
A vivid new world,
Of color
Of light
Of love;
Not a care shall be there
Or a hated air,
Velvet skies will shine
And the leaves will spill wine,
And the shrine of the world will be mine.