The guest
Language: English
It rises like the tide, imperceptible at first.
And then, before I know which shape
it assumes,
it’s standing next to me –
my spirit’s double.
Not fearful, but a friend who comes
around in times of trouble.
She may work her magic again.
Her face looks a lot like mine, but ageless.
What torments me
she hardly acknowledges.
Some of us are in need of an empath,
but she provides a different example
to set me straight.
So serene, she spans the distance
between thought and word.
An elegant creature,
quite sure where her path lies.
Lighter than gravity, she floats
high above the madding crowd.
Moving in lockstep, they have nothing
to show us two.
We merge like the river currents
winding through the teeming delta
of consciousness,
harnessing our energy, then borne
toward the ocean’s foam.
When my soul is healed anew
I remember the purest times I’ve ever had.
As my tears softly fall, she turns to me,
as if to say, “You will endure.”
Authorship:
- by Mark Abel (b. 1948), "The guest", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2014-02-18
Line count: 31
Word count: 169