SPIRITS
Bruce Cockburn


Spirits of the past, you are near me;
You look like a pine forest,
silhouetted in a silver fog

Spirits of this age, you are near me;
You glitter in a sad way
like a broken dragonfly

In a dream I seem to wander,
Across a cold and smoking world,
Leaving beauties quickly smothered
in the ash of passing ages

Strong as the good things are,
They are so often shattered in the hardened hearts of men,
and lost

Holy Spirit, breed those who love you;
We are longing and you are near us;
I have felt your wings beating like
a broken dragonfly.