By still waters

By still waters

Not a sound,
no wavelet flutter against restraining bank,
no random rustle of turning leaves.
The sounding silence of a pulsing heart
sole arbiter of life.
This is external peace
whilst raging torrents torment within.

Yet it is by still waters You lead me
to startle my eyes with evolving things
that are at peace.
Baring trees, bearing their last cloaks
before the challenge of winter winds,
demonstrate a colourful goodbye
pre-empting a prudent paring of dangerous sails.
But that is for tomorrow,
today the multicoloured smile of Autumn
rules the gallery.

So I will praise You
with the gleam in my eye,
when words dry upon trembling lips
falling prey to fear of change.
I will follow You
into the shadowed valley of unwritten paths
unmapped and hidden in the palm of Your hand.