I have wandered,

I have wandered,

Dawdled in shadows

Dug deeply for tomorrow

Without ever finding it

Listened to stories

Told by withered old souls

Sat around cheery campfires

Blazing

Spritely sparks

Flying high.

I have whistled in wonder

At the ghostly apparition

Of a sleek ship floating by

In full sail,

Long and slender

The sailors tying ropes

Swarming

Feeling the frenzy of activity

From so far away.

The romance of their destination

Tearing me apart

I travel with them to distant lands

Trading knowledge

For the spice of life.

I walk a rugged hillside

Cap in hand

Feeling the earth move

As it breathes

Beneath me.

Every other step, a mystery

Of survival

As wild as any night

Spent in a city street

Skirting dark alleys,

Wilting in sunlight

Hiding in shady corners

Waiting for midnight

The cool of it

A comfort.

Better men than I

Have fallen by the wayside

I have seen their bones

The makeshift markers on their graves

Perhaps one day I will fall,

Too weary to continue

In extant.

A ghostly revenant

Following the romance

Of a long, sleek ship

As a deepening darkness

Looms.