Valley Of Proud Men

 Valley of Proud Men

Sorrowed down

In the dirt of an unbloomed rose

I seek the light of a moon so weak

It cannot lift it's head.

What made me think

        I could find my way

Out of

This treacherous valley?

Where blood and bone

Have gone to ash

And dreams

Have turned to dust?

I hear the cries of moaning men

Their specks of life 

Snatched up by dogs

And buried under ground.

The whispers of the Old Ones rise

In the mouths of angry crows

And when they fly, the sky turns black

Like an endless, celestial sea.

I am an apparition now

Not dead or alive, not breathing breath

The ghosts of bison run me down

And the wolves devour my heart.

See them roaming

The tired brown earth?

Looking for flesh

        Of tired proud men?

The proud men 

Are all gone now

They live in memory

On the eyelids of the dead.

This is the place of massacre,

The land of boiling blood,

The resting place of those

Who cannot rest in death.

And I, you ask me, who am I?

I am the future that never was

The yesterday that died unborn

And the tomorrow that never came.

I am the nightmare

And eyeless vision,

Bitter water pooling forth

From the chasms of the earth.

Searching for the tall, green corn

And drums that beat for dancing

Riding on the backs of beasts

That no longer dare to fly.

I am the voice of children, silenced

And the howl of wolves, unheard

I am the desolation falling

That blankets out the sun.

Ride with me, my angry crow!

My hungry dog, my empty bow!

Ride with me on the bones of steeds

        Lying buried in the dust.

The mountains taunt me with their crowns

Stretching arms of evergreen

Point to splendor on their peaks

        Made virgin white with snow.

Calling me with teasing smile

To stand and walk the walk of men

The talking trees command me Come

And cool my fever with singing wind.

And I reach forth my eager hands

As seasons change and crawl away

Again and again seeking reprieve 

Touching my lips to the face of the sky.

The horse neighs,

The crow caws, the dog growls and sighs

As over and again, 

My hands fall to my side.

For the valley won't let me go

The valley won't let me go

I'm the shadow in the valley

Of the shadow of Death

And the valley won't let me go.

©by Voo

June 28, 10

7 p.m.