Once upon a Lifetime bleary
As I pondered blue and beery
Pondered much of my forgotten lore...

As I nodded, fingers tapping
To the beat of Snoop Dogg rapping
Mind ablaze with memory mapping
Past the haze of memory gapping
And the glaze of distant lapping
Distant slapping on a distant shore...

Barely this and almost nothing more...

Ah, distinctly I remember
Once fleet of foot and corpus-limber
Now within my dying ember
Each separate fleeting thought, hath wrought its ghost upon the floor...

Yet eagerly I seek the morrow
Beyond this late-night beery sorrow
I yearn to wake so I may borrow
More earthly moments hedged against my yore
For rare and radiant hardships to explore
For late-night beery blues til evermore...

Beer and nameless cheer forevermore...

And the silken, sad rememberings
Aimless thoughts from mind dismemberings
Hath filled me with fantastic terrors; terrors I've not felt before...

Terrors meant to still my heart
Cleave my soul, and thus impart
A starving beast; a raging carnivore
A terror left rampaging through my core...

This it is and nothing more...

Presently I felt its hunger
Hesitating, then no longer
Quite as fierce, as fierce it was before...

Perhaps the beast is only napping
And so gently I went tapping
Tapping round within my claptrap core
Searching for the deadly carnivore...

Darkness there and nothing more...

Deep into that darkness peering
Despite my countenance endearing
From within, it stared back leering
Jeering at the Light it must abhor...

Torn between and torn asunder
A darkness poised to rape and plunder
Light that waits for gloom to blunder
When suddenly a booming thunder
And the wonder of that distant shore...

A Lightning Bolt revealed the distant shore...

Back into the darkness turning
All my soul within me burning
All my mind was reeling, churning
Spilling out more ghosts, upon the shadow-dappled floor...

But then from there beyond my marrow
Scoffing at the straight and narrow
Struck by Kama's final arrow
All around me, mysteries to explore
A tapping on my window and my door...

'Tis the wind and nothing more...

Still I opened door and shutter
From the gloom I heard him mutter
His foul smell first, then him unshaven
Stepping forth and walking through my door
Quite dignified, beyond the rags he wore...

Not a word of salutation
Seeking first a lush libation
Straight to my bar, each anxious step a chore
Behind the bar, he perched there with his pour...

Perched, and sat, and nothing more...

Then foreign song and I was smiling
A soothing chant, twas most beguiling
He enthralled, as time was whiling
Words beyond my grasp, betrayed the vestige that he wore...

"Here ye reek and are unshaven
Surely thou art not a maven
More ghastly grim and likely craven
Yet here ye sit, and so I must implore
Tell me why ye stepped in through my door
And did you travel from a distant shore..."

Silent sat this graven troubadour...

Much taken by his gift of song
Though silent now, his echo's strong
Enchantment to enjoy, prolong
Yet spells he cast, chase answers out the door...

For we cannot help agreeing
The soul of any sentient being
Is blessed to hear the beauty, in a graven troubadour
Is taken by the affect, of a craven troubadour...

Quoth the maven, "Nevermore..."

Still unshaven, filthy, stinking
Staring at his drink unblinking
The drink in hand he was not drinking
Now watered down, I asked if he, would like another pour...

Nothing farther then he uttered
Not an eyelid then he fluttered
Door he closed and windows shuttered
Then to the bar, to pour himself, another copious pour
Then to his perch, a fresh drink to ignore...

And silence from my troubled troubadour...

Perhaps my doubts should dwell unspoken
Yet I want this stillness broken
So I offer this small token
"Forgive me sir, for brazen tongue; my previous inquest, please ignore..."

His wrinkled brow, his glance at me
Foretells a thrumming harmony
His golden voice once more floats free
And happily I throw myself against its rocky shore
Broken there amongst the rocks, I'll stay forevermore...

But, again, I hear the maven, "Never, nevermore..."

Then, within his ballad sinking
I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking
What purpose does beguilement serve, with mysteries to explore...

And of this maven staying hidden
His voice that comes unknown, unbidden
Is he from that longed-for distant shore
And did he come here after or before...

And what is meant in croaking, "Nevermore..."

This I sat engaged in guessing
What these strangers were expressing
Perhaps a curse, perhaps a blessing
This disembodied maven, and unshaven troubadour...

Are we here for convalescing
Or perhaps take turns confessing
Should it be so damn distressing
To hear the cryptic beauty, from my troubled troubadour
To hear this maven's wisdom, in the lone word "Nevermore..."

Am I to press, forevermore...

His song creates an aura brighter
My thoughts are whole but somehow lighter
My vision too, is wrapped much tighter
When suddenly, from the shadows, comes that word, "Nevermore.."

"Wretch," I cried, "who hath sent thee
I am finding I resent thee
How am I to circumvent thee
To submerge unceasingly
Beneath the waves, of this grand, melodious rapport
I must be one, with only one; my troubled troubadour...

Quoth the maven, "Nevermore..."

"Be thee Prophet, or be thee Devil
Do you sorrow, or do you revel
Are you furtive, or on the level
You and your capacious wisdom, cloaked in 'Nevermore'..."

"And now chanteur, still unshaven
What say you to ghostly maven
Which of you will gain this haven
I fear that joie de vivre, has no place in 'Nevermore'
Can you share your gift of song, despite the threat of 'Nevermore'..."

Quoth the maven, "Nevermore..."

Torn between and torn asunder
Lapping waves and booming thunder
Waves of song that take me under
The stygian thrill of fears to plunder
Do I truly hate what I deplore...

Within this sorrow laden soul
Uncertain how to keep it whole
Both pain and pleasure take their toll
Perhaps I've never had control
Best to search beneath the waves? Or in the realm of Nevermore?
For rare and radiant hardships to explore...

Quoth the maven, "Nevermore..."

"Be that word our sign of parting
On the morrow, I am starting
Out to sea, I will be charting
My new course, to seek and find, the Truth on distant shore..."

"Perhaps my plans should dwell unspoken
But I want this stalemate broken
Your last chance to grant a token
Be it sung or be it spoken
Clear, plain words I understand; to both I thus implore..."

Quoth the maven, "Nevermore..."

Three months pass; I'm yet unwitting
Troubadour, still sitting; sitting
And the maven, as is fitting
From the gloom is unremitting
Never more, and never quitting
On the morrow, I will chart, to find yon distant shore
As I quest, perhaps I'll pass, the realm of Nevermore...

Most every night now I am dreaming
Dreaming dreams most unbeseeming
Shadow of my soul redeeming
Thoughts that are unwholly teeming
Thus I often wake up screaming
Wake up to the terrors, of the darkness deep within my core
Wake up to the terrors, of that near-forgotten carnivore
Wake up to the terrors, of my maven and my troubadour...

Reality forevermore...