The Transformations of the Night

The wild grape twining through the forest's heart,

The sudden quail, a beat of thunderous wings

Escaping from the stealthy questing hounds

And the too-weak goldfinch, faster than the eye

Caught in the talons of the silent hawk.

Each day I witness death succumb to life

And life run headlong into the arms of death.

I see the cycle even in myself

And recognize the deepest need of change.

I wake from sleep that is the near death,

Half-conscious in nocturnal realms I move

Through worlds peopled with forms that if awake

I would shudder at but here am unafraid,

Distant lands the spirit soars to find.

I learn what must be learned beyond the mind,

I see what human eyes are blind to see

And know what human hearts long to know,

And love with its lethal fangs, its claws, its teeth,

Its violent necessity devours

My ignorance, my ego and my needs

And I am free, returning to this familiar shell

The transformations of the night complete.