Poet's Farewell

i have labored for a thousand years to build the ark that rides out the storm... to bring peace to a war torn earth, to bring healing and understanding. i have bowed in prayer with all faiths, in temples, in mosques, in huts. i have come in many forms, red, brown, black, and white, male and female both. i have listened without judgement, i have felt what you have felt. i have known your poverty, and your anguish, and the insides of your prisons. i have felt your passions, your hatreds, your fears, and your hopes... i have forgiven, and been forgiven. i have taken lovers, and stood with friends; i have fallen again and again. i have believed past the point of faith. i have known both light and darkness. i have tended the fire all through the night, i have ran naked in the rain. i am each of you, and nothing else, and more than we understand. i have spoken the last word spoken, and now my time has come... no longer the man who feeds the branches to the fire, i become the branches, the flame, and the warmth... and taking the form of light, i kiss the darkness one last time... with hope!