tatooed man3

the tattooed man
reclines on his pillow
in the temple of wisdom and grace
he fills his cup with the sap of the willow
while filling the temple with space
he sees all the foibles
the tricks and the traumas
of living fully the race
he lives for the moment
his ends and beginnings
are all in just one holy place
his insides are outside
his outsides are in
he walks on celestial clouds
he waits for not one thing
not all things or others
he stands in his permanant crowd

as he travels
his knowledge is mine
don't you know
from this edge of his time to the lasting
the forever of still the always of all
full to the brim and yet fasting
the tattod man is a shaman you see
he's the end of the always beginning
the priest of the ancients
the final recall
the captian of losing and winning
deep dark in my middle
his light always shines
a welcome tacked onto his door
a place i can go
to where all i can know
is written from cieling to floor
the tattooed man lives here and there
inside and out side the temple
he knows all the answers
he asks all the questions
those that are joyus and tremble

the tatooed man has traveled you see
from the seat of the world to the top
he has sailed all the seas
rode all the storms
and there's no indication he'll stop

the tatooed man is forever it seems
without him all life would dissolve
he runs here and there
he stays where he is
with more than determined resolve

when i am asleep when i am awake
the tatooed man makes notations
from outside and in
on not just his skin
he keeps record of daily creations

in dreams he comes in seeming he goes
he gives what i make in my living
he doesn't care if i'm here or i'm there
or weather i'm taking or giving

the tattoed man is the world that i make
as i live through my waking and dreaming
he is what i make as i give and i take
weather making or faking or scheming

he is what i am from my head to my soul
from my birth to the next big beginning
in the decades i have it is love that i dole
that makes him so shine with his gleaming

i am what i am an old sailor said
those are words that require
some cleaning
for the tattoed man is more than a friend
he's the master of my souls hard dreaming

it's a poem my friend and i want it to end
and i'm having a time getting there
let it be said that i just went to bed
and the tattooed man doesn't care

amen