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America
In 1995 Amy and I made a fire
down on the shores of Ontario
in the warm of Memorial Day dusk
we brought newspapers for kindling
and matches for sparking
and cheap wine for drinking
and marshmallows for eating
The shore provided wood.
we found five logs and made a pyramid
each one supporting the others around it
so air could get in and around and make the fire burn high and hot
we poured and lit and were happy when the fire
took on its own life, and we began to toast marshmallows
but then, looking down we saw an ant with a
rice egg, running from a lower log and back and then more ants and more ants
until hundreds of ants with rice eggs were running, running, running back and
forth to the cool of the shore from the heat of the fire saving what they could
we didn't mean to set a home on fire, but
now what? To douse it with water would drown them, to step on the fire would
crush them -
so we did nothing but watch as the fire
ate the log and the ants ran in and out
in and out
in and out
and sometimes burned alive, but sometimes
rice eggs were saved.
there was nothing we could do
so we ate and drank
and the sun went down
and came back up the next day, and every day since
- Elizabeth Stephen, April 2003
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