The page on which I dwelt

The page on which I dwelt was blank,
no word came forth to be read -
"They will not read the things I write!"
were the only words the poet said;
and so he outlined with his pen
no word and left the page a blank.

Yet through that page I saw in truth
the anguished poet’s mind perplexed -
he could not stay - he could not go -
he did not know to what do next -
he could not say, he had no proof
and so he left the page a blank.

The wordless page stared and the man
returned, with horror in his eye,
the steely gaze of emptiness
that very nearly passed me by,
until I read the hopeless words
upon the page he left a blank.

With wordless fear his forehead quaked
and filled with tears his trembling heart
lest he no other word should write
before his time came to depart;
and so rolled two large tears and dried
upon the page he left a blank.

And there a truth so infinite
that were I to its meaning grasp,
then reading would no longer be
necessity; and so the task
of life would simpler be and great
would hail the page he left a blank.

Upon the page where no word lay
I seemed to glimpse a kindly face -
a face that smiled and understood
the reasons I joined not the race
which man created in a day -
before he left the page a blank.

What kind of man creating words
would ever fraternise defeat
and victory within a breath?
Would he not always face that sheet
and tremble at the call of birds
to see the page he left a blank?

The voiceless paper seemed its grain
to split in parts, across and down
as ’though it quaked with every breath
of freshness that did scourge the town
with gusts of wind and squalls of rain
because he left the page a blank.

I wish that I could write a page
of emptiness that means so much
as the one which looms so bright
within my mind that I could touch
its gentle form were I engaged
to kiss the page he left a blank.

And when the dawning rays of light
crept new across the silent page
the poet rose and shook his head
and clawed young locks, now grey with age:
he stood, a sorry hopeless sight -
’twas he who left the page a blank.