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"Dear Cadmos": a poem by Zachary Zheng

Before you is a shining sea of flowers

And rows of corn that sprout from glass,

Beside you great rolls of yet more foliage,

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Their vibrancy is a reminder of your inadequacy.

Their jagged pillar is thrust upon your shoulders

Until it bursts and floods your spine

But still, you marched on, the thorns

Diving into your tendons, the rubble

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Diving into your thighs, the question

Diving into your soul and leaving limitless red marks.

But still, you march on, pausing only inside,

As if you cannot hear the wind howling

For you to stop, or the thorns

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That refuse to part for your toes,

As if your wit, will, and audacity 

Are enough to live on.

For in the core of your being,

You know they are.

When the final drops of dew fall

Your fingers will be there to catch them,

Because your keen nose can sense

When the dew is due to be rain

And the dunes are due to become a coast.