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You Lay on the Sand as I Called Your Name
by Daniel C, Toronto, Canada, Age 17

You lie on the sand as I call your name
You feel the hot grains chisel your skin
You feel the hot grains permeate your body

I called your name and held your
Head in my arms
As you lay on the sand

Your blood slid down your body
And fell to the warm rough earth

I placed my hand on your chest
But the redness streamed from
Your wound, and escaped the cracks
between my fingers

In your wound
I smelled the metal of the
Vicious sword
The cruel vicious sword of Odji,
Our adversary

The sweltering sun struck your skin
As sweat rained from your forehead
And your eyes weakened
Your eyes darkened

‘Don’t leave me’, I said to you
‘Don’t leave me’, I said once again as
I bent forward to your face

You enlaced your cold palm
On my hand as you lay on the hot sand
and said to me, ‘I will never leave you’

My head dropped to your collar
As I held your body
And warmness drizzled from my eyes to your shoulder
Along with your blood,
They dripped to the hot sand

They soaked in the scorching sand
And Sutekh drank the dreadful sorrow

I held you for the last moments
As you lay on the sand

And your soul was no longer bound to me
And Sutekh, lord of the Desert
Had taken you away