The Measure of Eternity

Flowers falling to the earth like snow

Rays that shoot between the topmost leaves,

In silence now a deeper truth to know,

Grateful for these transient reprieves

I walk her lanes of loveliness and greet

The fruited boughs that lean in offering,

The cushioned grasses cool beneath my feet

And all the aching splendour of the spring.

I feel a oneness with the silent sky,

I am a comrade of the earth, the seas,

And yet I cannot comprehend just why

I am house divided by degrees

Where unknown voices call from unknown rooms,

The sentry falls asleep at the sacred gate,

And all the past before the future looms.

I call but in my steps I hesitate

To plunge into the cavern of the light.

Though still half-conscious in my quest to be,

And still awaking from my spirit's night,

I am the measure of eternity.