Tenacity

These are hard times, son The ice-cap writhes in the withering sun The forest fades like a mist The golden staircase that dreams climb on Are shifting sand dunes in the fist But you will not stop, son Though salt sea sucks the sinewy shore You will not look back with regret Unless yield your will to death For you crossed that flood before And panting hammattan Could not outlast the tenacity of your run So while the soil cracks And the vulture flocks Nothing is lost Until you concede to the sun And we will not fear its white heat Its flesh festering blisters That against our pigments beat We are the proud resisters Of self-pity and doubt And we disdain The lack of rain The falling of the leaves as drought These are hard times, son The ice-cap writhes in the withering sun The forest fades like a mist The golden staircase that dreams climb on Are shifting sand dunes in the fist But where the wind blows Son, curve your flight And soar with it to win the fight.