'What I Want'

To breathe the air of a thousand years, To pick a star that has seen a million tears, To see a sunrise on the Serenghetti, To be there for you - always steady. To ride the clouds of a northern front, To be the guide on a world-wide hunt, To plant a tree that will live forever, To watch it grow . . . always together. To reach around the world and back, To insure all children, for love, never lack. To take each chance that life will present, To live my life with you, with your consent. To teach all people to reach above, To learn to listen and to trust in love, To witness new life - from the very start, To give to you to keep . . . my only heart. To believe in miracles - every hour, To show to all there is a greater power, To accomplish life's most difficult feat, To sleep at night . . . and hear your heart beat. To walk the roads of my ancestor, To carry forth as my children's mentor, To touch a wolf as it howls so true, But above all this . . . I'll always want you.Late one night, after lock-down and lights were out, I heard a man scream out repeatedly, “What do you want, what do you want!!!” After some time, he was quiet - but my head was on fire with this poem. It started coming to me in blurts, so fast that I was afraid I would lose it before I could write it down . . . so in the moonlight I wrote it on the wall beside my bunk in pencil. To my knowledge it's still there in Cell A4. This poem is exactly what “I” want. Do you know what “you” want? Written September 10th, 1995 © on Nov 13 2001 12:22 PM PST   0 • 9 • 12