SHANGRI-LA

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There you lie
A desert,
Forever fallow,
Colourless and drab,
Your eternal garb,
Boasting lonely shrubs,
Nothing more than fleeting flattery
On the part of thirsty greenery.
Sand and time,
The crooked couple,
Air and a bubble,
Co-conspirators, doing the double,
They entombed the path, on which I walk,
Picked my footprints one after the other out the sand,
Like in tales told by old folk
Through creaking voice boxes emitting willful sounds,
At half past five, with a setting sun
Disguising a tan,
In a halo and a cheerful sulk.


A restless spirit,
I roam the sands,
In bursts and sprints,
This puzzle, I try decipher over again.
Unsteady has become me of late,
Heavy this weight,
On a journey so eternal,
One that leads to the Pearly Gates.
If only I could find a bit of shade,
That little piece of comfort that never fades,
Where I can unhitch my load,
Catch my breath,
Pause for a moment
And find stillness in the wind,
My calmer climes,
A glass of water in the desert.


Wind in the willows,
Restive
Twitchy
Edgy
And agitated.
Among the rustling leaves
You will most definitely find me,
In search of one ever so elusive.
Mythical,
Almost a dream in these parts,
But in between my teeth’s where I’ve placed the bit,
Sweat and tears on the pyre of life,
Through rain, sleet and snow,
I carry my torch,
Close to a chest,
Singed over and over again,
But I’d rather it be me
Than my torch extinguish,
I’d rather lose myself in a dream,
Than live a million years without one.


In between nightmares and dreams,
That’s where you’ll find me,
Tattered clothes,
Unclothed feet,
Bruised hands cradling a torch,
A man in search of Shangri-la.
As father time keeps his time,
My strength slowly fades away,
Nature strips away all that clay,
But if given the chance again,
I’ll do it all no different again,
Run the gambit,
Just so I can pull a rabbit,
Creature of habit,
Ambition my addict.
So on that day
When you come across bones and a skull
Cradling a spent torch in the dirt
On that narrow way,
My apologies, sorry I left without saying goodbye,
I could not wait for the cock to call,
Please do not remember me in a pall,
Be happy
Please be gay,
For I found a piece of Shangri-la walking this way.


Shangri-la(noun): reference to a utopia, paradise