Pilgrim

One whiskey, one cigarette,
and dim eyes through smoke…
A weeping guitar,
an upset pilgrim…

An elusive feeling
for some holiday in the night---
longing, burning---as a reproach,
drawing closer, as if toward grief…

A smile, like the strike
of long-awaited rain---
without rapture, without thought or shine,
...sudden, brief---like a cry!

And whiskey again, and cigarette again,
and dim eyes through smoke…
A weeping guitar,
an upset pilgrim…
And here all goes askew---
sorrow and joy, tears and laughter.

Echoes in the heart, like a temple---
unbidden yet foreseen sin!
And no longer by chance,
and not quite by will, again
a longing that stayed a secret,
melts softly like snow…

And whiskey again, and cigarette again,
and dim eyes through smoke…
A wholly broken guitar,
almost weeping pilgrim…