I Am

I have climbed to the top of mountains, and felt there icy breath freeze my tears.
My breath is warm and shall always remain,
Though it sometimes trembles with fear.
With eyes of light and the strength of eternity, I have erstwhile hid my face.
Whole, I have come into your life,
Before you entered this world, wrapped in my swaddling lace.
With the kindness of love and the bitterness of hate,
Your life has forever transformed.
Brothers, in disgust, would turn their heads should I leave,
And God only would mourn.
Flesh and bone I am not, though I travel through your veins
With every beat of the heart
A traveler’s thought, a hermit’s dream, a lover’s tale, a beggar’s wish:
With these I will never part.
Laughter is a song I sing, so that you can tell that I am in your soul.
You live in me freely, a passion, a lust for life,
Yet times will come when there is a toll.
The whisper of lovers, tears of children, the pleading cry of a mourning mother;
My knowledge is complete.
You see me in a smiling face, in a wish come true, or even in a sorrow,
You wish not to repeat.

Feelings of guilt I have made, as well as happiness, compassion and sorrow,
These you feel in time.
Rejection and grief! How can you feel these?
When the cure is yours, and you are mine.
I give myself freely, as does water from a well or rain from the sky,
Why make rules that hold?
I am not an object. I can not be held, contained, stopped, or put into a mold:
I can not be bought, harvested or sold.
Both dark and light, both in and out, both up and down, there is no limit on what you may choose.
You act, a play, a meaningless combination of tears and laughter, yes, they flow through me, a ruse.
The waves that have landed on all the shores of all the oceans are easier to count than ways I have given.
Pounced upon I will not be maneuvered, though I can be changed, I will not be driven.
You know me by name, you know me by feel, and you know me by strength,
I am not in a few.
You know me as love, and I am in you.

Rick Allen Bennett