There was a time, I would not have imagined.
The silky touch of a human, tender and smooth.
Yet, a hand driven by a mind, fierce and determined.
The terrible beauty, not only born, but pressed against my skin.
To what this honour? And how this dream?
Awaken me not, for I have no desire to escape.

Then she smiles.
Light from distant galaxies momentarily escapes through her eyes,
Trying vainly to catch it and contain in mine,
Straining from the effort my squint becomes a frown.

She laughs.
My once brazen spirit, disarmed and beaten, surrenders at her feet.
No longer believing his own well-rehearsed verses, this blushing schoolboy steers his gaze away.
And yet. And yet.

In a distant place, a lion awakes, rises and surveys.
The sun is already scorching the savanna.
Another day of hunting the prey. Another spin on Darwin's cycle.
I am being devoured.

We must carry on the fire.
We must be the good guys.
We must do what is required.
We must help our allies.

In the destroyed world we live in,
We must pursue the dream.
We must fight on so we can win,
Because we are a team.

My mother couldn’t live like this,
She walked out long ago.
I don’t blame her; this is not bliss.
I will still fight on though.

We must carry on the fire.
We must be the good guys.
We must do what is required.
We must help our allies.

I once came across a cellar,
Those inside were to die.
What happened there was not stellar.
They were meals for bad guys.

We had to leave those people there,
When the bad men came home.
I put them all into my prayer.
The bad guys did not roam.

We must carry on the fire.
We must be the good guys.
We must do what is required.
We must help our allies.

We will remake America,
From what my father said.
We will end this hysteria.
Goodness we will help spread.

We were heading towards the ocean.
I never asked him why.
I tried not to show emotions.
We walked with a gray sky.

We must carry on the fire.
We must be the good guys.
We must do what is required.
We must help our allies.

Father speaks of a different place,
One that was before me.
A world that left without a trace.
This thought doesn’t have glee.

Although now my father is gone,
I could not go with him,
He said I had to carry on,
So the flame is not dim.

We must carry on the fire.
We must be the good guys.
We must do what is required.
We must help our allies.