Dark Muse

I have searched over wind and sea,
Over this tattered world of tears,
In cities chained with silent screams,
Down all of these lonely years,
For the dark muse of my dreams.

Gift of sun, moon, and stars we soared,
To the furthest corners of sleep,
Where strange and wondrous songs rise,
From black waters dark fathoms deep,
Falling, forever falling, into sunlit skies.

But my beautiful fickle one,
You've become as the clouds and air.
Though you I ache to touch and hold,
You dance away with stars in your hair,
Leaving ashes and a heart grown old.

Now that we've loved, I remember you,
Your sad-sweet face turned toward the sun,
Walking along a distant beach,
You and the restless ocean as one,
Eternally beyond my reach.

© 1999, 2005 Benjamin Y Shih