Soul Years

I no longer measure time in minutes
but in pearl years
The pearl outlasts the neck
the wrist withers
but not the bracelet
Rings but not fingers
are found in ancient tombs*
I no longer measure life in living days
but in Soul years
The body wastes away
time comes to an abrupt end
the mind outgrows the brain
the heart gives finally in
but never the Soul
For the Soul endures beyond Eternity
From somewhere inside the catacomb of my very self
a silent scream paints the walls of my Soul
as perhaps a star screams
or a fish down in the darkness of the sea
but no one hears
and no one listens
I find only echoes of a solitary life
lived and scattered
and mostly forgotten
At the seat of my Soul
dreams lay buried
and expectations have expired
and yesteryear is forever gone
and fragments of today is all that's left
and hope is a faceless creature
beckoning me to believe in a new tomorrow
a tomorrow that is by now a lifetime too far away
The Lord of all Time measures not in minutes
but in Soul years
where time has no beginning
and time has no end
and the Soul outlives the body
and the Soul outlasts time
and the Soul lives on a different Plane
where there is no time
and where there will never be an end...
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First stanza taken from the book The Tin Drum, by Gunter Grass