<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> Another Long Walk</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><b class=""> </b></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Given enough time,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">there is always another long walk,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">another proof of civilization's lie,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">and all must prepare to run,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">for no matter where you are born,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">the sky can crack and drown you in fire.</div><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">The prophet said it would be fire</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">licking at our heels next time</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">and it is anyone’s bad luck to be born</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">where death comes cloaked as a walk</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">that goes on and on, until lives run</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">out of breath, stumble, and lie</div><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">in barren fields with nothing to lie</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">between them and scorching fire.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">There is nothing to do, but to run </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">as fast as you can, to outdistance time</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">and this nightmare of a walk</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">where death is borne</div><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">on wings of silver and hope dies, unborn,</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">among hobbled prints that lie</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">in mute witness to another long walk</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">that crushes hearts into red grit of fire</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">and strangles cries of rage that time </div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">after time, someone must pack up a life and run</div><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">to nowhere. This walk, too, shall run</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">its course, new stars will be born</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">to light up the heavens and, in time,</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">history will write, not quite truth, not quite lies,</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">of who and why and how all became fire.</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">Some will say there never was a walk</div><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">of death, that all people are free to walk</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">a thousand miles of blackened earth, to run</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">a marathon of fear, while fire</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">power presides as midwife to newborn</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">cries of war. Dark clouds gather and lie</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">low over fallow fields, where time</div><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">has run out. On distant horizon, fire is born,</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">from smoldering ash left to lie untended.</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class="">The time has come for another long walk.</div><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Patrice Warrender</div></body></html>