If there is evil in the world,
some vile persistent force for ill
that while we live pursues our souls
in secret, behind beauty’s veil,
I wonder at its silent spells.
Because when all the world is still,
when you can listen close enough,
there is no dark-masked murmuring
beneath the roar of living’s sea;
and even on life’s jagged coast,
where quiet inlets wait, unmapped,
to enlist unwary travelling ships
and lure them into mire and doom,
I’ve found no trace of infamy,
nor any signifying mark.
09 NOV 2010
