I see the faces
Far away in the mists
As I walk down the long road

Faces that I had loved
Faces I had despised

They all returned
As I journeyed along
The ancient walkway

Always changing
One moment, it was
The great Appian Way
Faint cheering beckoned
Just beyond perception

The next moment,
A lonely country road
Packed dirt by the passing of feet
Fireflies flitting here and there

I could hear a woman calling me
Saying that it was time for dinner
Bidding me to stray from the path

But I knew that my home
My new home
Lay ahead, not beside

So I trudged forward
As the path turned
Into a sun-baked dune
The heat beating with every step

And then into an Arctic mountain pass
The sleet digging into the skin
Of my face, my hands

But I moved forward
The temptations and punishments
Ignored and cast aside

Past treasures of jewels
Past snarling beasts
Beyond my sister, beheaded with a sword
Beyond libraries filled with millions of books

Knowing that, if I continued
I would achieve oneness
I would be one with anything
Everything

I would be a part
Of the Higher Being
Be it He, She, or It

And when I decided
To return,
I would walk the path once more

Perhaps to be the child
O a poor, happy musician
Or a troubled millionare
It would make no difference

The possibilities limitless
Stretched out before me

So I walk the path
Beyond the faces I have known
And on to those I am yet to see