The Long Ride Home

It´s been a long ride,

a strange trip along a path

of dead bones and lucid dreams.

Standing firm on the vast reality

of life´s lurid illusion

we grasp the nothing before us

when what we thought was truth

melts beneath our hopes.

The Lord created this world

for the purpose of Choice,

a purpose of deciding

whether we prefer His Eternity

on the strength of rock,

or this finite illusion

in the weakness of sand.

Many spiritual ills infected my life

in this deception, this illusion.

Temptations beyond measure

emptied my soul to a crowded wasteland.

The illusion caught me well:

thrilled me, pleased me,

filled me and teased me,

all the while hiding its lies.

Satan wants us to enjoy the long ride

and to look back at the journey

as if the value of life was behind us

and the meaning of life was in travel.

Satan offers a golden ring,

one that is seen

and will last the length of breathing.

The ring of this illusion

lies with its visibility,

causing many to value

that which can´t be kept.

But, though The Lord asks us to believe

in that which can´t be seen,

He promises a ring that can´t be stolen,

won´t rust nor fade and will last eternally.

Some say it´s foolish

to reach for the unseen,

but I question the wisdom of those

who reach for that which they can´t keep.

What is the value of the sum

of Time and Space and Matter

when its purpose is

shrouded in a lie

just this side of the end of its own road?

What is the value of life

when its purpose is bedded

in its unguarranteed length?

It´s been a long ride...home.

Andrew D. Festa