Lucretius Leaves Tuscarora

You leave this place quite sure you won’t return

before another year has come and gone.

You know that in the interim you’ll learn

of sudden deaths, and births, and lives gone wrong.

You’re leaving those you’ve learned to love and some

you tolerate.  The call of ties beyond

these barren hills to life that’s green and warm

conflicts with your strange need for ruined land.

You yearn to turn around the moment that

you leave.  A glance behind shows fading light.

Ahead, the curves disguise the course you’ve set.

You’ll find no answers in the starless night.

To go or stay is but a state of mind.

The mounded earth the only home you’ll find.