Remain
by Tim Reed
He bids me to stay, to stand, to fight
while world in gaiety spins around
Remain through day and heartless night
to seek the seeker and in finding, be found.
To count as mere nothing a tumult of steps
a vault of cheap smiles
an abyss of vain words
but rather breathe fire and rend open soul
To do more than stay - to remain.
In this way may I gain
a shadow of that lone great form
who, unmoved by all, sits in plain view of all the stars
flung, fleeing
before the glimmering eye and steady gaze
of he who wears proudly the name
"Remain"
And I, though I be a lesser light,
bear witness to that steadfast one
though marked I am by this feeble frame
am filled to full by his unbound might
And when life as music-box winds to stop
and as the sweet melody ends refrain
So may I wear his green laurel proud
and show in its glory the name - "Remain"