I see no footprints ...

                           by  Anthony Pellegrino

                       I see no footprints . . .
                       the breeze today has ceased.
                       I left few among the place
                       where we never could believe.
                       they could never know,
                       he knew not of me,
                       among the ones with saddened tongues
                       their physiognomy.
                       upon a tongue the dirges
                       poignantly lament a loss,
                       and I held her within my arms
                       our tears, our cheeks to touch.
                       somehow I have footprints
                       so faintly they impress,
                       for day to day and night by night
                       I wish a star to gleam,
                       hoping so agnostically
                       with my philanthropy.

                       the circle ceased today
                       disintegrate to ash,
                       for this a love so lasting
                       shall never come to pass.
                       the footprints which were four,
                       then three then four again,
                       forever have me longing
                       for a lover and a friend.
                       but now the prints of two
                       so faint and how they fall,
                       disfigured by the rain
                       of a blue cloud so small.
                       the cloud has lost its vision,
                       the arrow fades as breath,
                       for the cherub archer
                       too ingenuous for death.

                       a thought of self today.
                       what of a thought without?
                       nothing impeding nature-
                       what would love exist for?
                       would love still live?
                       this a helpless wish
                       as footprints lead away
                       unto agnostic bliss.
                       they'll return again someday-
                       but never seen again!
                       an elegy I contend
                       for what is now pretend.
                       they once stepped so deep
                       then so lightly they did creep,
                       a print from days of yore
                       the sand shall feel no more.

                       the three remain so cold,
                       so cold and solemnly silent.
                       they've not a wish for love,
                       nor a thought of violence.
                       the blue clouds are dry,
                       the dirges are misplaced,
                       a tongue no longer mourns,
                       the arms will not embrace.
                       wishes to the stars
                       are merely memories,
                       a past print of two
                       now walks with steps of three.
                       the world without change
                       scarce thoughts of thee,
                       nearly as the footprints
                       never had been seen.