Through Stranger Pass

A foggy road holds many secrets of the mind.

Here I am a stranger, traveler through a stranger pass,
where once I knew a gleaming road, winds a whispered serpent path.
There I see another wanderer, walk his way within the mist
to embrace the flowing maiden, fade away within her kiss.

Shall I muster to her challenge—seek the treasures she enshrouds,
but to watch her fade in sadness as the sunlight burns the ground?
Ah! But to have another lifetime just to search her hidden art,
like some starry-eyed sojourner chasing tales of twilight’s heart.

The air grows thick, her arms a blanket, brushing on my cheek and brow,
a cool caress of whispered daring, an unbroken ancient vow.
On the pass and through the valley, a cloud but gently settles down,
and I march through secret forests, drawn to the drummers battle sound.

Or perhaps the foxing bugle, as a dozen riders thunder by
with the baying hounds pursuing, fleet and furtive quarry sly.
Mark the kingly standard flying, calling knight and cavalier,
as I take my place among them, charging with my destrier!

But the road continues onward over hills and reaching high,
feel her wispy arms fall off me, hear her weeping at the sky.
The veil that once concealed my movements, hinting at a wild shore,
breaks into a common morning, where oft I traveled long before.

Her misty touch still lingers softly, damp caress upon my skin,
a fleeting pulse of twilight’s magic stirs a longing deep within.
That she eagerly embrace a lone sojourner to her breast,
and give succor to the wonder in a wanderer’s request.

The baying hounds, the knightly calling, shimmer into sunlit gleam,
within my heart her twilight promise echoes like a fading dream.