Dreams Like Desires

At last my efforts to forget my shame
carried too my pride, and damaged
how I beheld both love and beauty,
how I, in conceited fashion once played,
now in loss, allow myself remorse;
I do not know why, yet to struggle
finally has become my means.

Misunderstood, maladroit, and misguided,
my dreams like desires vanished,
taking my love and passion with them.
How naturally then, I fell towards discontent
And saw there's nothing so sorrowful,
nothing as intimate, nothing as lonely

I've been shaped like all the others, along the waters edge;
yet I've been counted in preponderance,
and will succeed where others tried--
I've been swept to the depths in low tide
and discovered the beds where oysters lie.
I'll be the persistent grain of sand--
One day a pearl that catches your eye...

The darkest times do drag along
and blind all joys from every eye,
and good works crushed beneath the weight
of self-inflicted misery.

But sorrow is no substitute
for a rare and genuine lament,
Nor will it cease to manipulate
the mind's wily descent.

And powerless to stop the wheels
of time and trusted providence,
the well-intentioned heart lingers there--
in waiting and suspense.