Gentle Rain

Step by step
The repartee of aspiring tires the soul
Each with his goal before him
A whim of ambition caresses an especial ideal
Good sinners zeal to possess a material dream
All this, it would seem, for the mighty to climb
Ignoring each crime as they go
As though a kiss in a dream at the morning call,
Awakening, ergo
Oh, how far the mighty have to fall!
.

Move by move
Losers prattle their tales of woe
So, to each his own striving
Each trying to reach an unassailable peak
Seeking to breach a chasm of hope
And some expecting to play the ultimate joke
Ignoring the sign
And accepting the crime
Oh, how high the fallen have to climb!
.

Trick by trick
Disciples kick sand in the face of prophets
Who lace their thoughts with charms
No harm meant in words
Content with no meaning
Seeming to have spent a lifetime inventing a people's understanding
Handing each gem with a peach of the time
Attempting to preach some new vision of rhyme
Oh, how noisy the wise have become with time!
.

Drip by drip
Streams slip dreams about the earth
Rain encodes the valley's birth
Surf sings
The shores erode
And tears soften the cruelest load
The master speaks in the quietest tones
The mirth of nature's sculptor
Mountains lost
The rain remains the same
The master whispers
"I shall come as the gentle rain"
.