I Looked Down

I looked down to the ground
Worms swimming in my steps
I saw my feet, they knew this place
A stamp, a swift graze upon earth's face
Withered leaves and broken trees
Creatures huddling in decay
The path was mine, my steps the first
Floating freely where I please
My feet embodied in the mud
I was free to rule the world

I looked up at the stars
Thinking all the thoughts that men have thought
I tried to count, I stopped at four
I walked for hours, my path unknown
I kneeled down, yelled out loud
But words can't fly like balls of light
Can stars look upon a soul?
Do they look this way at all?
There were no sounds, I heard no sounds
I'm a worm underneath a symphony

Convinced of the vanity of my vain attempt
To lay my hand upon the Hand that lives above
(And before and after and below)
My corpse of walking dust, my forever loyal lust
My fatal rationality, I am no child, I know my world
Said I, struggling to feel the past I once knew so well

I look down at my feet
I see the remnants of decay
The heavens are too high for one like me
Though my feet rule all life's end
Where shall I cast my gaze?

Yet I stood
As one captured between the dream of hope and dismay
My feet in the mud, touched by the air that touched the sky
Held steady by the mercy of a Hand from afar