Fire-watch

No where else, but

Here in the vessels

That pump blood

Into mankind’s

Veins, arteries

Life…

Does the core

Of human kindness

Overflow,

Into the realms

Of what has

Been called

Living.

By many

Who never

Really learn

The meaning of

The word,

They use so evidently.

No where else but

Here, does glory

Sound out the harmony

Of existence

In the vessels

That pump blood

Into mankind’s

Veins, arteries…

Life!!

No where else

Do such immense wonders

And intense struggles

Intermingle together

And mesh to become

One.

Here begins the reign

Of a loud, penetrating voice

Inside all of us

That shouts to uphold

The strength

That makes the

Breath of life

Exist…

No where else

But here,

Does human kindness

Overflow,

Into ourselves,

To wither away

In the corpse

Of a living body

Or prosper

Outside the never

Dying flesh.

Here begins the challenge

That lives inside of us

By many who continue

Living

But by few

Who learn to live.

-June 1998

Written in Parris Island SC, bootcamp

Copyright 2000 Wendy Torres

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