Endure
Sequestered in this chilled and chilling cell,
My body wracked, my spirit still burns bright.
A recusant searching for a wayward soul
Or a mendicant without the gift of sight.
This flickering light, my supplicating hands
Take on the aspect of the old gnarled roots
Of the oak and olive trees I roamed among,
'Fore heart, mind and will began disputes.
Without these vast austere enclosing walls
The other world and worlds call silently.
Beckons the familiar and the strange,
Choose I must and now and diligently.
Each guttering candle marks a measured time,
Damnation or deliverance matters not,
For within, there burns a balm of golden peace.
And gods or god are easily forgot.
Stern feet advance upon my little realm,
I'm judged and yet I judge myself the more,
No temporal questions could I give an answer,
I will embrace my fate, I will endure.