i am a beggar on a forlorn shore

wine women and song no longer my companions

an old king deposed fallen on hard times

betrayed by my sons betrayed by my sisters

my stupid old head full of the spring

cast adrift in this cosmos

i clamber up yonder distant hills

i rove the rocky beaches in thrall to their ocean

i am a fool i am a rogue

i squandered a fortune that was never mine

i conquered a deep land inside and that was enough

yes my evil twin within but tell me who really won….?

i am a monarch of starfish and briar

i am inspecting the cliffs and the weeds and the tiny spiders

an endless afternoon across the water where lies antarctic wastes

my cities have disappeared

my yoke has been cast off

tired hungry lonely loveless wanderer

i drink brackish water from shoal havens and black creek

i eat wild berries so sweet who stain lips scarlet purples

leaden footed without grace i go

trampling adders and such into the dirt and glass

someone beckons me but it is all illusion

i can almost see the truth now

but have lost the energy to fight off maya

i affirm the earth

i change into my sackcloth shirt

my crown long since melted down

i suffer insults from the wind and the stars

i talk to myself although i never listen anymore

that voice droning on in the silence of midnight

a hand on my shoulder that takes me aside

reflections mirror the face of nature

the sun the sand the clouds the waves are in my eyes

the gulls and the surf are my ears

clamour of battle faded

messenger brings defeat after defeat

herald whose shrill trumpet sped through the din

vanguard amongst the missing somewhere faraway

forgiveness is yours to grant if you should so wish

let me sup at your table tho i do not eat much

and i’ll make you laugh perhaps

when you wonder

how this beggar you see before thee

ever once lay in imperial leathers

and commanded the sky