Ancient Rhythm

Ancient music calls deep down in your soul.

It brings forth a light that burns your fears

and makes your heart never sleep.

It beckons a scent only an animal can follow

a need from the beginning of time.

It conjures a touch from inside your bones,

released through the prickly shafts of hair in a shiver.

Do you leave it all behind?

Do you jump off the vessel with the cracked hull?

Do you save your life from the fickle wind

that sucked all the honesty and joy out of the air?

Or do you stay and become a martyr

for the honor and loyalty of a promise?

Promises broken and reestablished so many times,

the wolf now cries

And the boy never becomes a man.

The strum comes from faraway lands,

a journey through pain and wisdom.

Its soft strings turn into pounding thoughts.

It refuses to be silenced or sent away.

It refuses to be forgotten.

A stirring in the dark once thought to be dead.

Lying awake willing, the longing away

turns into a battle between wrong and right.

Do you walk away from the years you grew too apathetic to leave?

Or do you stand by “for better or worse”

and sacrifice what is left of the second half of life?

The gift of love and touch one day only to hide

among the dark crevices of a cave the next.

Do you continue to play the game?

Or do you walk away from the cat even if he kills the mouse?

The power of an ancient man won’t wait forever.

It tempts and sends out a gravitational pull so strong

that even the purest of minds can’t resist.

A primal love that never dies but lies,

waiting until she decides to live and not repent.

Do you break a heart to free your spirit, even if

the ancient light dims and fades away?

By Daria Pardue