To bear a thousand deaths for one uncertain heaven
To steal forbidden flaming fire from the gods above
To come down to hell to satisfy one desperate craving
To pay the toll for fame and fortune, happiness and love
To live a thousand lives competing with the best
Trying to raise our small human desires to the skies
Or stake our entire existence on attempts to test
If we prefer the simplest truths to more elaborate lies
The sea is calm and fair as I stand and think
The fog has cleared in an ink-gray mist
Life’s hopes and fears to the ground now sink
All selfish worries having stormed and ceased
Stars reflected in the silver-studded sea
Peace filling voids in sorrow-spangled hearts
I watch the waves and stand happy and free
Free to spin daydreams on rugged ruby sands
Apart from gilded suns on northern shores
Apart from wasted sufferings of men
Or from life’s lessons depicted in the lores
Or brooding thoughts too native to my pen
Far far away from dramas unrehearsed
Away from petty fears and cheap emotions
Close to the pancake-sun and warm waves versed
In teaching seagull-wanderers their homeward motions
Ready to give my life for just one dream
To abide in loneliness at the world’s wide shore
Finally ready not to fight the downward stream
Facing at last my spectral fears on the dusty floor