Purged of Sin

Garbed in the cloak of dusk’s darkness
Through shadows dark and tall
He looks askance in confirmation
To where last he saw his shadow fall.

In murky lanes lit by evening stars
He pauses as the light from yonder streetlamp dies
And eerie silence joins the smog in flight
From where he stands to where he lays his eyes.

His shuffling feet break the quiet spell
As he blunders through the foggy lanes at night
From where he came not even he does care
So long as he may reach within his might.

Seeking solace from the darkness where he dwells
Stumbling faster with each passing breath
He reaches out into the unknown ahead
To mould his daily destiny till his death.

When sand at last beneath his feet he feels
He stops to hear the sound of ocean shells
Then smiling, draws the bottle from coat’s breast
And in the liquid at his lips revels.