Lucretius Leaves Tuscarora

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You leave this place quite sure you won’t return
before another year has come and gone.
You know that in the interim you’ll learn
of sudden deaths, and births, and lives gone wrong.
 
You’re leaving those you’ve learned to love and some
you tolerate.  The call of ties beyond
these barren hills to life that’s green and warm
conflicts with your strange need for ruined land.
 
You yearn to turn around the moment that
you leave.  A glance behind shows fading light.
Ahead, the curves disguise the course you’ve set.
You’ll find no answers in the starless night.
 
To go or stay is but a state of mind.
The mounded earth the only home you’ll find.