The Tree

I must have run a thousand miles across this empty desert
maybe even a million, or a billion.
But I'm certain it wasn't a trillion.

I'd run for miles and miles under the hot sun.
Sometimes stopping for breath.
Sometimes to change course and chase the mirages to the ends of my own little world.

Until one day I fell face down,
and couldn't get up.
Breathing in the sand, the dust, and the dirt.

The singeing rays caressed my bare skin.
Until, for the first time in a while,
night had fallen.

Still I lay face down in the dirt,
too tired to move.
So I breathe in another ounce of dust.

Until the mornings rays, again burn my neck,
but only for a moment,
I decide to roll over and check.

A giant tree has grown around me,
protecting me in it's shade,
finally, a piece of sanctuary.

I rise up to search, the extent of it's growth,
for the first time I realize how thirsty I am,
and a fountain springs from it's roots.

My thirst is satisfied, and so I climb and lounge,
amongst the strong branches,
and the wide stretching bows.

A ripe piece of fruit falls from on high,
for the first time I realized,
that, one day, I might die.

But I eat the fruit,
savoring every bite,
knowing I'll be contented, until the next light.

My mirages chase around the outer edges of the shade,
but I pay them know mind,
I finally learned to wait, and stay watchful inside.

For if a mirages comes a-knocking,
if it comes lurking beneath my bow,
a mirage, it is more than, and more than, shall grow.