Nathan Lewis Williams – All That Changes
All That Changes
“Lay me down, in silence easy, to be born again…” Van Morrison.
All that changes
changes in dreams
all that moves
moves on in dreams
and I’ve been sleeping a long time
Dreams of running
evading the clutches of fate through cunning
have ended
I have surrendered to you all
Dreams of flying
of rising above the crowd
I will deflate
And so relinquishing
this great and godly gift
my power
wanting no more of the will
or the ache of potential
lay me down, lay me down…
And yet,
you women closing in on a young boy
who floats upon the softly rippling surface
for an instant –
how I watch in awe your sure approach
and fear
the sudden sinking!
And now I fear that like the ancient hero I am bled
for love of her to whom so gladly
so gladly I was led
So should I die now
where I am
upon this floor
this bed of oak leaves, snow-swept
in a graveyard, huddled
on a mountain
in a courtyard, spinning
on a highway
whether to be woken or to dream
but certainly to change
I lay me down…
…And wonder how
as one might tumble from a clifftop
and yet catch sight of heather blossom drifting
in a breeze, how still the look of life is on the face
of one so clearly destined
to this passing
Nathan is a musician based in Glastonbury.
Image above: Elli Lestas – Stain
