| Some ways further down the line
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| Separated by an ocean of time
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| We scan the land to zero in on crown hill
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| And behind the sleepy meadow and a single occupant
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| Of the sweet summer day catching rays in the jade stone
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| Many miles from home
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| I see bumblebees and butterflies flutter by
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| I see the sun smiling at me from the sky
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| High above the clouds, they remind me of
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| The wooly white curls of my best friend Mani
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| She’s my favorite of all the many sheep on the farm
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| And Dad says «her hair keeps us warm
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| And our bellies full of good food so we can grow strong
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| And survive any cold snow storm»
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| Cheeks flushed, sweet musk
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| The sun hanging high up in the sky and while the heat was
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| Habitually overwhelming this time of year
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| It’s the fresh young cub that comes home with the lions share
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| Here in the shade, cusp of the tree line
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| Beside the belko hedge brimming with lush ripe fruit
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| Infused with light salty breeze from the east
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| Joy rush flushing out his being through the leaves
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| Mmmm these belko berries taste so sweet
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| But I can’t stand the heat
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| So come on feet, take me to the river quick
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| To cool off and poke a few lizards with a stick
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| He hesitates, then thinks
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| I shouldn’t go alone
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| I know that it’s too far away from home
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| But I have to know what’s going on
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| I’m gonna leave the ranch
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| And snap off a twig on my path from a branch
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| He scratches his name into the dirt with the stick
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| And licking syrupy belko juice from his lips spells S.H.A.L.I.M
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| One of the two parting gifts she had bestowed upon him
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| That fateful night all those years ago
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| When she had knocked on the door of celestia and boro
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| Whom shalim knew as mom and pops
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| So goes the balance of the cosmos
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| Infinite improbability the second of the gifts glints through the canopy
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| And seems to pull him into the thicket
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| I wonder if the land beyond is different and scaring me
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| Like in stories old people keep telling me
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| I let myself be guided on a path
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| That I have never been before in my life
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| And I’m ecstatic like a bunny rabbit
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| I’m shaking and taken my something
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| Coming deep from within me
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| Suddenly a shadow that envelops him
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| He feels a trembling in his melanin
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| Towering beast from the mud takes shape
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| With the limbs of a man and a blood-stained blade
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| Unfazed, he thinks to himself
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| Wow, what a pretty cape!
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| But such a gritty face
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| He looks so mean
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| Like a monster I once saw in a dream
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| I better head home so no one worries over me
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| In the bush behind the meadow a child stands staring at the scene on display
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| Seven severed heads on spikes and the air hangs thick with demise
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| Inscribed in blood on the bark are the words «bangali arise»
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| In the distance the rush of the tide |