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Now you journey through a desert

Now you journey through a desert
burnt by wind and sand and sun
where once stood your homely manor,
undone by ill chance and ill choice;

and you look to your companions:
but they too are overburdened
and cast their eyes down from the sun’s brutal honesty,
all laid bare in harsh relief.

Stories told of bygone blessings,
tales of golden yesteryear,
these soothe no more your battered spirit
longing for solace, not promises.

You spy oases,
and some are even real.
They quench you briefly and cannot sustain you long within this heat,
but oh! while you sit there
‘neath shade and chew on figs,
how much it seems like home.
And then again it’s gone.

This burden shared with your companions,
that memory of fruit and laughter,
do not hide it in deep inside,
but speak of it aloud;

Underneath the same sun burning
Together live. Alone you’ll die.
Each find the strength to bear
The others’ burden for just a while.

When you spy oases,
find the one that is real
and stay to dig a well, to rebuild that homely manor.
Oh! the life of fruit and laughter!