I.
All reason ends at Love
And there, at the borders and the foothills,
The cyclical train halts
To let the world weary and adventuresome off.
From the station they depart
Solitary or in twos
To cross the wastes and crags
Of false starts, betrayal and broken hearts.
Many lose their way, become sick and hard
Head back to the station and wait...
But reason’s train is difficult to resume
Once quit for the high domain of Love.
It stops to let off passengers
More often than pick-up
And many stops are in darker realms
Than the daybreak lands of Love
Yet those who pass through wastes,
Shadowed valleys and icy streams
To reach the stretching, rising roots
Of Love’s great mountain wall
Will see their trials multiply
At entering fair borderlands
Some will tire on a cliff face
To fall beneath bright mists
Some will turn for laziness—or fear
To wander back through lonely wilds
Some will fold before the crest
And sit and wallow—heedless of how far they’ve come.
Myriads lose all they are
On the mountain walls of Love
Still those who lose themselves upon
The mountain’s sunlit face
And yet continue chanting strong
“Further up and further in!”
These pilgrims cross the peak-tip’s blade
Not noticing its bite
And entering will find an inn
For their journey’s earned respite
II.
“Don’t pillow long your weary head”
The innkeeper will say
“You still have many lengthy miles to travel on the way”
At the summit you thought you’d found
Your journey’s ending place
But in the distance you can see
A higher mountain range
And all your efforts seem to be
A child’s mere bouldering
How can I climb those mountains there?
—I barely made these hills
My weak and fledgling efforts have
All but drained me of my will
“Fledgling? Yes, but don’t you fret”
Said the innkeeper with a smile
“I’ll guide you further on your way
Just walk another mile”
I thought it would be easier
I dreamed of a plateau
But now I see it’s harder still
There’s many miles to go
“You entered Love down at the roots
Of this great mountain wall
And those who failed to make it here
Retreated to their fall”
This journey ever upwards, inwards
Is harder than I thought it’d be
But I cannot imagine turning
That just might be the end of me
“So keep on going upwards, inwards
To the lands above the clouds
And when you cannot go on climbing
Call for me and don’t be proud”
Ridiculous! How can he come
To raise me up from the abyss
If he is here within this inn
While I fall off the precipice?
Then with a twinkle in his eye
The innkeeper did say:
“These lands are mine and I’m the King
I’m sure I’ll find a way.”
