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LOST AT THE TOWERS
Ellin Anderson
I used to walk below the stars
In light I could not see.
But here, no earthly power mars
The world I watched through brittle bars,
And I have clarity.
The white road glimmers at my feet
Like fireflies in a field,
But steadily, without a beat,
A glory constant and complete:
Likewise, my silver shield.
And downwards, through eternal dawn,
I see the lights below,
Of well-remembered Babylon
(Or Amsterdam, or Aragon),
Whose heights I used to know.
Forever faithful to each friend,
Forever brave and true,
And helpful, till forever's end,
I linger where my soul must blend
With other souls in blue.
The heat was red, the force immense,
And larger still, unseen,
The alchemy of souls, intense:
Remade, but with a greater sense
Of where to intervene.
I was expendable, they say,
Towards a greater good;
They glitter on the diamond way,
Like ants with sugar for their pay,
Or beetles boring wood.
And when hell's ceiling breaks apart,
And they fall shrieking down,
Will pity move an angel's heart
To sue to God, and take their part
With ransom worth a town?
Then let them call their father out,
Those traitors, and their kind:
Too small for me to care about,
The metal heart, the monstrous mind;
Too far to spit upon, no doubt:
Too low for me to find.
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