The following two poems are very special to me... the first was written by a young man that I was introduced to recently. Upon reading his work, I was somehow inspired to write a mirrored poem... trying to capture the essence of what the original poem said specifically to me... I sent my mirrored poem back to him... we both felt like it was an experience much like a conversation of souls... as you read, read first one line from the original poem, and them one line from my mirrored poem... you will then perhaps experience the conversation between two poetic souls for yourself.

(Original Poem by a Friend)

Souls bleed in the sand
looking for springs in the distance
Leaves of gold give shade 
near never seen shores 
Dwelling in their dreams far away 
from the desert of the sands of time
Men find their fate   
looking back   
as it passes.   

Living in confined spaces of obsession
should they blink
Or are they crying in closet corners?
should they sleep?
And if they see refuge in their dreams' slumber
Will they awake but to a dream?
Shall they find that what they sought in slumber
crying in closet corners
Were the shores of sand bring reality
Real as the rain they wished to feel
on the broken skin of their dry, chapped lips.

Can they feel fate on its rare return?
Do they feel the pain of their journey's quest?
In jest, do they tell themselves they'd be forgotten?
Will they try to forget the desert
and the endless hills of sand?
Will they try to forget their endless search
for never seen shores of water that cannot
quench their thirst?
Will they try to forget their dreams of desire?
Can you escape from desires
when you dare to dream?

(Mirrored Poem by "Uootem"

Lost souls... their essence adrift in drops of chaos
that form an oasis in deserts of long ago time
where treasures are but absent illumination -- darkness pervades
into unfamiliar stability and sanity unfulfilled
for there is a lingering of distant recognition
of another lifetime abandoned too soon
where destiny is demystified
only in nurtured anamnesis
as changes are made everlasting.

Imprisonment... in the fixation
should eyes forfeit their gaze?
or is there shadow, a wrath in the silent places...?
Can a yearning live in echoes of a dream?
If, perhaps, just one last chance is sought
to fight for the lost cause with strength and blade
will the struggle matter.... or still matter not?
when they drink of life in solitude
as the wind blows and howls its echoes
a cruel revenge... as sought to avenge
the words unheard... pain in failure, absurdity and unspoken word.

Will lost souls find insight... when the myth renews?
Is there a grain of truth in sand cast about?
or are meanings of hieroglyphs lost in the ebb and flow of arid tides?
Can one remember the essence of such an ancient land
when the infinite dunes of today obscure fertile soil?
Will the mystics relinquish scared temple vows
when the flame of its candelabrum
no longer provides illumination or warmth?
Can the visions of devotion be obscured by the darkness?
Can mere death erase the knowing
when the soul is immortal?