The Gorge

The precipice beckons
Behind, terror stalks
        And malice waits
Squeezed
         Between expectation and responsibility .

I raise my beacon,
          Flames flicker on myriad eyes.
Shredded thoughts lay around my feet.

I stretch my other arm across the gorge
And grasp a calloused hand.
           "Jump brother. You are not heavy."
I stand streadfast.

For Cecil