Egeiro

Through reddened night and glowing shade

You view the inner depths of Hade

And wonder if the stars would fade

Buried in this Inferno.

Within this core of earth there flares

A sudden light brighter than stars

And through the raging silence tears

A voice crying “Egeiro!”

You start and look around to find

The speaker of the word – the mind

Which could create such thought to find

A way from this Inferno.

Then in the distance you espy

The flaming man who raised the cry

And watch him swiftly drawing nigh

As e’en he cries “Egeiro!”

His visage burns brighter than all

The burning flames within this pall

Of death and ‘prisonment – this Hell

That rages an Inferno.

“Egeiro” echoes the sweet word

You feel as if you’ve somehow heard

It said before – as if a bird

When flying cried “Egeiro!”

How shall this man – this thing of light

Ascend, like bird, out of the night

And ‘scape the blazing fires bright

Of this endless Inferno?

You watch with widened eyes as he

Strides through the flames so fearlessly

That round him parts each blaze-eddy

He stands and cries “Egeiro!”

Lo and behold! A shining stair

Weaves from the flame and in the air

It rises ‘till it’s gone from here

Vanished in the Inferno.

Without a hesitation, then

The man steps on and so begins

Ascending up the stair to Heav’n

He climbs and cries “Egeiro!”

You follow him as through the flame

He climbs on stairs of very same

Until on the last step, his name

He writes in light: “Egeiro.”

Now feel the cold as stair of stone

The man ascends. Chilled to the bone

You wonder if this is a tomb

Where through ascends Egeiro.

E’en longer than the flames before

Stretches the undulating floor

And stony steps that leave the core

Emblazoned with “Egeiro.”

Ahead, you see? The light-made man

Has cast a ray, and so began

Ascending stairs of earthy span.

The last stone glows: “Egeiro.”

Beneath his blazing feet the sod

Is pressed by footprints like a god

As ever onward up does trod

The man who cries “Egeiro!”

So far he goes until you see

Wound in the wall a root of tree

As thick and dark as irons be

Touched by the bright Egeiro.

More roots appear and gems do gleam

Out of the sod and every seam

Of darker earth displays a dream

Whereon gazes Egeiro.

But never failing is his way

E’en though the wonders seek to stay

His feet, he’s climbing to the day.

Who tarries not? Egeiro.

At last you see a gleam of light

That comes not from the man gold-bright

Ahead of you, but through the night

Stream rays. He sings “Egeiro!”

The steps of sod are left behind

As up a stair of woody-kind

Egeiro walks, leaving behind

The word inscribed: “Egeiro.”

Low groan the steps beneath his feet

And as he higher goes, the beat

Of wind does make this stair to creak

And shake the brave Egeiro.

Further and further he ascends

As underneath him branches bend

Grow small and smaller as they wend

Into the sky – Egeiro

Does not slow on his destined road

But as the stair grows sparse and old

He climbs the faster, as if gold

Were waiting for Egeiro.

A thin, pale branch – the last of all

Now glows the ever-rising call

Bearing his name forevermore

The rising name Egeiro.

The steps have turned into a sea

More endless than the fires could be

And as he climbs to be more free

The man still cries “Egeiro!”

Sometimes his steps sink deep into

The water-way, so swimming through

He strives to rise and seeks a new

Step to emblaze Egeiro.

Shorter than all the steps so far

The ocean is and is no more

Upon the last low wave a star

Of light does glow “Egeiro.”

A stair of wind! So fierce it blows

And filled, at first, with winding snows

That nearly down the man it throws

Who sings to fear “Egeiro!”

But he braves through until the wind

Has stormed its last. He sees now spinned

A stair of cloud with golden tint.

The last breeze breathes “Egeiro.”

Each step he treads he prints upon

The clouds the golden rays of dawn,

And still they glow, e’en when he’s gone:

The last step shines “Egeiro.”

The final stair he now has reached

That neither with the clouds is wreathed

Nor sings with wind so soft and fleet

‘Tis stair of light – Egeiro

Knows now that he is near the end

However, this new stair ascends

So high and far so as to blend

Into the air – Egeiro

Hastens faster than before

To reach the end and ope’ the door

He knows is there. And what is more

To blaze it with “Egeiro.”

Into eternity they rise

These steps of light that leave the skies

And pass until the last star dies

Still cries the man “Egeiro!”

He rises! And the time is not

Like beam of light he’s up and shot

Unto the very shining top

Of these last stairs – Egeiro

Stops for the first time since he

Began this journey. Stops to see

The last of lights blaze endlessly

It sings to him “Egeiro.”

“I am Egeiro,” he replies

And standing tall he boldly cries

“I rise! Egeiro!” whence the skies

Split with the name “Egeiro.”

A beam of light brighter than gold

Shoots from the gap and wraps to hold

The man in glowing crown. To fold

Round triumphant Egeiro.

He’s reached the end, and the last stair

Has on it’s final step the flare

Of that one word which won the air

And lives fore’er: “Egeiro.”