Grow to youth and maid 'neath the noonday sun
The breath you gasp here tastes hot in your mouth
In Summer's fields the furrows are ploughed deep
Learn passion's sweet cost and become the South
Walk in silhouette against twilight skies
Know that life's a tragedy; and a jest
The waters of Autumn stand cool and blue
Reflect your true self and become the West
At midnight there is a pause for each heart
Here Thought, Passion and Knowledge are called forth
Savor the cold dreamless sleep of Winter
Understand the dawn and become the North
Walk with me
let the strength of our hands meet
in the center of this journey
warm and real
ordinary as our next breath
and just as miraculous
Walk with me
on this well worn, but unmarked road
where the Way
is not measured in miles
but in the unfolding of resonant hearts
I could not ask for better company
the night is cold
black as ink
we wander through it as darkened shapes
heads turn to
a glowing distance
someone has made a fire
the light draws us
from across the dunes
riding beasts and on foot
we come
as family bands
and solitary travelers
we come
we are nomads brought together
by the sight
of fire
on the desert
it creates a focus
around which we revolve
the fire's heat
like a catalyst
increases reaction time
of our night
enthralled by the movement
we stare
into the brightness
as close as we can
without getting burnt
walking the moth flame tightrope
of swirling interaction
between flesh and combustion
we have no names
for the people who've made the fire their life
they are strange to us
committed to a single location
and purpose
we are only attracted
by the light
by the heat
by our own shadows that dance around the periphery
we've seen fires before
many times
through other dark nights
we are always drawn
and we always leave
when the flames are spent
we never look back
on the ashes of
what we've left
if the fire can't
maintain itself
if there's no more fuel
we are the nomad tribes of this desert
we make an assumption of fire
as a common occurrence
and do not ask what it could be
that burns so brightly
since in the moment of asking
a change would occur
we would cease to be nomads
and become tenders of the flame
with suddenly something to lose
or learn.
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