Protector of the Way

Who is this stranger that I look upon

Reflected in the mirror of my soul,

An unfamiliar face, a bearing strange,

Is this a spirit from eternity

Or one more form immortal Self has donned

To seek the God who still eludes my search?

I have seen him walking through my childhood hours

Watched in youth as he outpaced my fate,

Discovered him in inner recesses

Down the soundless corridors of time.

He bears the scars of battle and of pain

And yet the years sit lightly on his brow,

His voice with a familiar ring resounds

And songs recalled among the drift of stars,

The music of a higher harmony.

In dawn and twilight and revealing hours

His presence waits within my life's deep core,

Broken are the wearying walls of doubt.

He smiles at me and I acknowledge him,

Companion and protector of the way.