The Symbol Life

I am an intoxicant of time

And watch the flower resting in its seed,

The hours pass, the days, the centuries;

Long ago my longing ceased, my need

To press upon the world a signature.

I am a lute with a few vibrant strings

Or a flute the winds blow lightly on my stops,

Many an ancient voice within me sings

The songs my soul once heard, familiar strains

Of birth and death and conquests long ago,

For I am an inebriate of love,

A vessel into which the forces flow

To fill me with a salutary wine.

I shall be here when planets fall to dust,

I am the symbol life, the pulsing sign,

To make of me divine is Heaven's trust.