Augustine Of Hippo: A Tribute Poem by Midifo Yearns

Barefoot upon the desert sand of newfound life
feet cramp, in seductive memory of lesser things
that pull and shove, to dehydrate baptismal flow
and undermine the will to love and hope and know
that I was born to hear and heed the book that brings
a word, to cut through dark ugliness, like sharpened knife.

O yes, not yet, I do regret, and in the pale I dive
where foolishness my heart engulfs, my senses do abide
and then, my spirit yearns and turns and breaks the mold
I recommit to truth and grace, and on his hand do hold
while pleasures lure, I do not budge but touch his side
and there, with little strength to count, I find I am alive.

Late has this love within me surged to reach and touch,
to hold and never leave a beauty, old yet always fresh.
Only now do I see the origin of all that I embraced,
with empty mind and heart, was just reflection traced
upon the seas of time, that wrinkle and make ash of flesh.
True beauty is beyond, within, something we can never clutch.

You within, while I outside have run in search
of what I thought could satisfy my restless heart.
But barren emptiness was all that search would sire
until you moved in depths to open up, invigorate desire
and teach me how, let go of fake, to make a fresh new start
and then, like bird in flight, to leave behind old fragile perch.

And now the desert sand becomes a path, a subtle place of rest
where restless soul can simplify, embrace the one desire
in which the flesh is harmonized with all the spirit craves
then music that is never heard, the soul with body saves
and all that’s deep and best within, a focused life can sire,
because in you alone we find our peace, become our very best.