Searching

we fail in this old world,

directionless without such a

star as leads wise men

to new enlightenment

 

our emptiness yawns black

in a night that never grows

dark enough to see,

or quiet, still

 

yearning

 

we find our hands pinched

by cold, hunger, grasping

for hope, peace passing

our understanding

 

to strip away all the trappings

of the heart, find that fragment

beacon lodged with a word

awaiting life-giving breath