Eric Cockrell - Poet's Farewell

i have labored for a thousand years
to build the ark that rides out
the storm...
to bring peace to a war torn earth,
to bring healing and understanding.
i have bowed in prayer with all faiths,
in temples, in mosques, in huts.
i have come in many forms,
red, brown, black, and white,
male and female both.
i have listened without judgement,
i have felt what you have felt.
i have known your poverty,
and your anguish,
and the insides of your prisons.
i have felt your passions, your hatreds,
your fears, and your hopes...
i have forgiven, and been forgiven.
i have taken lovers,
and stood with friends;
i have fallen again and again.
i have believed past the point of faith.
i have known both light and darkness.
i have tended the fire all through the night,
i have ran naked in the rain.
i am each of you, and nothing else,
and more than we understand.
i have spoken the last word spoken,
and now my time has come...

no longer the man
who feeds the branches to the fire,
i become the branches,
the flame, and the warmth...
and taking the form of light,
i kiss the darkness one last time...
with hope!

Eric Cockrell

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/poet-s-farewell/