From sadness to gladness

A poem, written late the afternoon before

Such Dark Sorrows Dwell

Happy Birthday to you...
But this wasn't a song to be remembered--
to be forgotten like a millstone and its chore instead.

Happy Birthday to you...
Quiet and still, no one is singing together.
Only now someone's lit the fire and set the candles to their burning.

Happy Birthday dear...
Dears and dreamers all die alike
in a land where bitter'st sorrows lie.

A happy Birthday to you.
Soon, tear-stain'd will fall the pilgrim, not yet repented.
For soon, the precious treasure will be lost.

And so such dark sorrows dwell
o'er the melted candle, o'er the untouched cake
Where sits she now twenty-one, alone and all forgotten.

***

From the past to the present, different dreams come into view.
From the hardship to the labor, a different journey does ensue.
Continue now on looking, seeing what the eyes wilt see.
And wait until the ending doth is reveal'ed unto thee.

[Isaiah Thirty-Five]

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the spelndor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.

Strengthen feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. THen will the lamp leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shour for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. IN the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

And a highway will be there, it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in the Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing, everlasting joy will rown their heards. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.