My Brother Daniel

I found this piece among some of Dan's albums...it was my birthday, so I consider this a gift from him to me.

The Haven and the Marking Stone

By Dan Schnick

There was infinity. There was eternity. The truth was planted in good soil and it grew - into infinity, into eternity, into fire.

Blue is the color of life and death. Nothing lives without the blue of the sea, without the blue of the sky. The clear-blue air gives us fire. The clear blue of the water washes the ashes.

He didn't like it. It was cold, it was gray: the gray of night with an orange cold light. He could see forever - the slightest motion. In the brightness of gray, with gray shadows slipping; seeing and yet not knowing what he saw; he was.

He wanted to sing of the joy of life; he wanted to sing to the birds and the sky. He lifted his voice and sang a joy. In the melancholy gray his joy was a solo; infinity swallowed his song.

The succulent mouse did but gather the seed. The dry scales of the snake did but gather the mouse. In the gray of the moonlight the man walked on.

"'Tis merry we are, and merry we'll stay. We'll drink a toast 'til the break of day," sung the man. His feet he was driving to an end on a hill, to a haven of firelight, a heaven on a hill.

A seed had been missed by the mouse and had grown: acorn to oak tree, kernel to cornstalk. And the oak tree shed acorns and the cornstalk shed kernels. The man walked on.

"'Jackie boy' 'Master?' 'Sing you well?' 'Very well!' With a hey down, ho down, derry derry down, among the leaves so green-o."

There was infinity. There was truth. Eternity was planted in good soil and it grew - into infinity, into truth, into blood.

Red is the color of love and of hate. No one loves without the red of the blood as it comes to the cheek of a friend. She loved it. It was warm, it was green. At her feet lay the field. Its green, and its yellow flowers were growing, she knew, in a soil that was richer. She stepped down from the monument and into the clover.

She wanted to sing of a love that had died; she wanted to sing to the stones and the sand. She lifted her voice and sang a sorrow. The moist green, the warm sun made her sorrow a solo; infinity swallowed her song.

The robin did gather the worm and the fly. She soon laid some eggs. And the girl walked on.

"Where have all the young men gone? They're made soldiers, every one," sang the girl. Her feet she guided to an end in a valley. There stood a stone, ancient, a worn reminder of the end of life.

A seed had grown in the richer soil. It covered the ground, bordered the stream. It made a field of daisies, a forest of trees. The girl walked on.

"Where have all the soldiers gone? Died in battle, every one. When will we ever learn?"

There was truth. There was eternity. Infinity was planted in good soil and it grew - into truth, into eternity.

Yellow is the color of bravery and fearfulness. The yellow of the sun brings warmth to the earth and strength to the flower to make its own food.