the sand traveler...

his face etched 

by the winds of time
like the pyramids 

that were his home
determination sculpted

by the sifting sands
like the giant sphinx

standing guard in the desert
his skin colored copper 

by the tides of the red sea
the sands and sea
that bore him on his journey
this journey of eons
this journey through time
through space
other lives
searching seeking 

through space and time
and time had taken its toll
piercing his flesh with its passage
burning into it the uncharted map of his life
space becoming his tent called home
walking under the harsh glare of the sun 

soaring over the moon and 

sleeping under the stars 

on his wayward travels
his heart beating in rhythm 

to the memory of clanking camel bells
a heart fertile still as the nile delta
a heart crimson filled 

with the blood of ancestors
but a heart with a missing piece
and it was for this missing piece 

of his soul that he continued 

to search to travel
that bound him to never forsake
desolation his only companion 

as on he trekked ‘cross sinuous serpentine shapes
his long hair and head cloth 

his body’s only armor against 

the scorching solitude of his journey
and so it was that his hard lean body 

with its crimson heart 

yearned and ached 

for that which was missing 

which had always been missing 

from his life and all the other lives

in space and time
until one day in a single moment 

where time itself stood still and

space no longer spun round
this noble traveler collided 

with a force so powerful 

as to render him to his knees 

on the burning desert floor of life
a force so powerful as to shake him to his core
ramming its way into 

the deepest crevices of his soul
copper caverns long forgot
a force omnipotent
yet a force he feared not
there was a familiarity to this force
a sense of familiarity that transcended
transcended space transcended time
gripped in the fierce beauty of this 

familiar stranger 

his heart with the missing piece 

began to pulsate to push to thrust outward
further outward till at last 

it was whole again
whole again and fiercely beating
beating in rhythms rampant with life anew
a new life
and with his heart made whole 

so too were his other senses
senses long seared shut by 

life time after life time of searching
but senses now no longer dulled
in this instant of newly found wholeness
there came to this noble traveler
a sound almost silent almost imperceptible
but a sound nevertheless
a whisper
a soft velvet smooth whisper
that slipped gently 

through his ears and 

down down into his blooming heart
caressing the scarlet vessel...

shhhhh.....
you have found me...