We Build Our Own Fences

We let the fire burn itself out,
and retired to our selected earth
and our dreams.

This is where we danced.
As independent men -
dependant on the land,
our toils were daily,
and fruitful,
and to us - necessary.
And with no time for the
superfluous, we had to remind ourselves
to dream of reckless abandon,
and dance.

Heat sanded the flesh off our necks,
and our tools did not conform to our hands,
but our hands to them.
And our work showed daily progress -
with no sight of completion for years.
And for years our socks were never dry,
and we always prepared
to live the same days
in a cyclic time -
and we saw our lives
continue on, and on.

We fell to the ground that night
with ash and embers
above our heads
in effortless flight.
With our eyes closed,
they must have found their home,
on the minds of all of us;
burning images never seen,
and feelings
into our collective dreams
of things possible.

We woke at daybreak.
The usual soreness of the previous day's work
mingled with the tough bedding we chose to lay.
And we smiled.
Shrugging off the night of joyous ecstasy
as a single, individual, unique experience.
Never discussed - we began a new day.

We sat in silence,
waiting for the breakfast to boil,
thinking of the day
we could set ourselves ablaze
with a life of dreams unseen.

Jordan R Shaver 07.19.2012