"Rapids"

Today I watched the sunrise Over the solemn firs I watched its rays kiss the forest And the brook which quenched my thirst. The morning has no pride, No lust, no want for tears, I want to be just like it But that thought instills a fear- If I see them all again, Will the song I sing be heard? If they find me in the shade Will they make sure I know hurt? Will my signs be of sense Or will they see none at all? This is my rightful place Here beside the waterfall. I watch the fog dissolving Into the hills below, The waterfalls are roaring, They cry a tune I know. The trees give me shelter, The forest gives me a better home- The only rush it threatens Is the rumble of the water's call. I'm too tired from the hate, Wrought by others and my own The monster in the street-lights With its ship of hurt in tow; But once again, come the shouts, And I dash, fast as I can Deeper in, I'll do without The world awake to my shame again. The river cuts the valley, Where the cliffs cut through the woods, A few miles downstream Where once a village stood They find him washed ashore there, And they cease the search and calls- At the ripe age of sixteen He found his peace in the waterfall. No more now does his shame Strangle him in his sleep, Hidden in the forest's shade, A wooden cross stands silently.