The Heel

Not at the polar caps is where
imaginations fail,
not in the deserts of despair,
but on the rocky outcrop, on the heel

sticking out of water, exposed to the feathered arrows of the sun,
there, despite our fearlessness and care,
is predicted the cause of our fall, the course—upside-down direction!—
the weapon, the war, when, and where.

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