Woodland Shrine

 

The reunion came, back there at last

It didn't seem like fifty years had passed

We'd called them Guhor Woods,

That stretch of dark, forbidding pines

That lined the road on both sides

Arranged in ranks and serried lines

That dark and winding road 

Never lit by light or lamp

That stretched from Elli's bar

To and from our base in camp

 

In Guhor Wood, wandered in deep

I lost the path and fell asleep.

It just never crossed my mind

Just how strange it was to find

A little bench of polished wood

Put just there, but it felt so good

To find a place where I could  sit.

When drink is in there's little wit.

 

The moonlight gave a sinister charm

To the cross with outstretched arms

That loomed there before my face

In that suddenly turned sinister place.

In a drunken state like mine 

I'd fallen asleep in a woodland shrine

Before  a crucifix they'd placed there,

Obviously tended with loving care.

 

I'll never forget the expression

The sculptor had caught

Of pain long suffered 

And experience bought.

I ran off scared into the night

Haunted by that touching sight.

I never did find the way  back

Though for months I tried every track.

 

I knew I hadn't  imagined that scene

From my days as a drunken teen, 

And now I'd searched each found track

But I never did find my way back

To that little Woodland place 

Where I'd seen that haunted face.

Was it fifty years since I'd been that way

It  really had seemed like only yesterday.