What might have been in that distant place
If I had found the strength to seize the sun,
To spend it’s fires in a blinding instant
And cast it into darkness.

What might have been in that shadow land
If I had found the words to lead the blind,
With broken promises of brief and muted light
And cast them into darkness.

What might have been in that simple time
If I had found the faith to place a god on high,
To set him up so that I with searing reason
Might cast him into darkness.

But I who did not fly too close to the light
Or pluck the apple from the tree
I spent my time in buttoning and unbuttoning
The bitter fabric of my days
Wearing my fingers on regret
And mourning the sun I would have seized.