Isbarath

Faded sails ride the horizon

So far and far away to dwindle

The dire script

Writ on that proven canvas.

I know the words belong to me

They belong to me

These tracks left by the beast

Of my presence

Then, before and now, later

And all the moments between

Those distant sails driven

Hard on senseless winds

That even now circle

My stone-hearted self

The grit of tears I never shed

Biting my eyes.

Faded sails hovering as if lifted

Above the world’s curved line

And I am lost and lost to answer

If they approach or flee

Approach or flee unbidden times

In that belly swollen

With unheard screams so far

And far and so far and away.

This Blind Longing

Isbarath (of the Shore)

(MT, UK Trade, p.293)