Anamaeus

What is a man without his shadow,
a path trodden with no footprint to bear,
keenest sorrow without sublime rapture
or moon absent luminous sun?

And what is love without betrayal,
corporeal agony without sensual ecstasy,
proffered meekness without promised glory
or a creature apart from creation?

Where would I be without solitude,
nor the blessing of another?
Without winter to preserve,
nor summer to bear ripe fruit?

Are the thoughts of my waking
not as deep as visions in slumber?
Or the language to form them
as precious as the silence of mystery?

May the day come for brother and sister
to seek abode within the same vessel.
When heart and mind no longer tear at another
yet serve the soul which has attended both.