Part Four: The Meaning of Danger and the Beginning of Sorrow

This is an account of the vacation that my family took in September of 2004. This is all true.
"Characters"
Mom
Dad
Ray: age 18, my oldest brother
Eric: Age 15, the middle child.
Me, whose real name is never spoken: age 10

* * *

Things will make me crazy,
Things will make me glad,
Things will make me dance,
Things will make me stand,
Things will make me sing,
Things will make me silent,
Things will make me smile,
Things will make me frown,
Things will make me fly,
Things will make me fall,
Things will make me laugh,
Things will make me cry,
Things will make me do anything,
And they will you too,
Just be careful of the things,
And they will be kind to you.

Upon the glistening fields, lush and green
There his yellow coat shown, like sun’s glow

Swirling brown mane, pawing white hooves
A brown hidden face, great muscles that arch

His flowing forelock, upon white shining blaze
Swerving shoulders, mixed lifting leg

A curved neck high in strength, mane pours down
Breath-taking eye of wildness and lightning
Sweeping tail, galloping swift legs
Pellias! Oh Pellias! A stallion free!

Sir, I am a poor man
I have not money nor home
so I beg in the street,
so very alone

I don't ask for your money,
I don't ask for your purse
but I beg thee for something
with even more worth

I don't ask you for house
or mansion or hut,
I won't pick your pockets
and your purse I won't cut

I won't ask for fine clothes
or a warm meal to eat
I won't ask you for blankets
or shoes for my feet

I won't ask for any of those things,
I ask you for something
that means much more to me...

Time is a thief,
a tyrant,
cruel

Time is a friend,
a companion,
a rule

It rushes along
it hurries,
fights

And I don't really think
that this
is right

Shouldn't we take
all the time
we have?

Why shouldn't we stroll
instead of life
running past?

Time is a thief
that steals
a soul

Time is a tyrant
sitting on
its throne

Time is not about
to go
away,

But that doesn't mean
we have to
obey.

Can you wait just a minute,
and forget right this second,
think back to the past,
and lay down our weapons?

Forget what we've heard
from different sources,
and break down our walls
and knock down the fortress

Put aside the battles
we've lost and won,
work together,
all for one

Forget what's just happened,
start over again,
now is a time
when we can be friends.

Can you wait just a minute,
and let it all slip away?
Can you wait just a minute,
and see the new day?

When I fall from the a darkened night sky,
I’m not afraid of what will happen when I land,
I do not faint, I do not cry,
I gently fall, but then I pick up speed,
I simply close my eyes,
I do not yell or shout real loud,
Instead I land on a pure, white, cloud.

I walk around and I meet,
The others who fell a while before me,
I smile and laugh with those from the past,
I dance on the cloud spinning so fast, that white is all I see,
Then to me they all bowed,
Because, I’m royalty on the white cloud.

Rain
drops of silver,
crystalline tears,
wash away
sorrows and fears
Rain, rain,
don't go away,
keep me company,
cleanse my weary soul,
with drops of silver,
crystalline tears,
wash away sorrows and fears,
Rain, rain,
you blow away,
the sun comes out
on a whole new day

A chilling breath of wind
ruffles my hair, catches hold
twirls me around
in a whirl of red and orange
of yellow and gold,
and sings a song for days of old
The sun is sinking,
a blaze of bright,
the moon is rising in gray twilight
The sparrow's form careening
across the pale blue sky
the wind, it still keeps singing,
and twirling as summer sighs
My cheeks are cold and crimson
from the very first kiss of fall
that comes with the chill wind blowing
and then, without a sound,