She came in shaking like a leaf
Cold and afraid, of a world filled with grief
Staring wide-eyed, couldn’t shake her disbelief
She said she was a nomad
A wanderer from afar
Came from a land of plenty
With peace throughout the land
Never knew of hunger
Never knew of war
Til she came to this land
A once shining star
She talked of leaders
Held in high regard
Leading by example
Instead of lining their pockets with gold
She said there was no disease
No sickness, in the young or the old
People lived in happiness
Prosperity at every turn
She told me of the stories
She heard as a child
How people of might and integrity
Drove the evil from the land
She talked of worshipping GOD on Sundays
And giving thanks throughout the week
Of a Savior living among the people
Whose great deeds they did speak
She sat for a moment
Gathering her thoughts
Took in a deep breath
And spoke a new train of thought
This land that we’re in
Seems so desolate
Nary a person to talk to
Nor creature to be seen
I’ve been wandering for days
And haven’t seen a soul
Stopped at the first place to show signs of life
And now I’m talking to you
The roads stretched for miles
Nothing growing on either side
Felt like I was the last person
Left here alive
I asked her where she came from
Of which country she did speak
She said she came from America
The land of the free, the land of milk and honey
From sea to shining sea
She said she was from the northwest
A small town in Oregon
Just a blip on the map
No one ever heard of
A town called Lebanon
Named after the city of cedars
I looked at her closely
To see if she was right
Because the story she just told me
Couldn’t be right
I told her, her story was wild
Though I didn’t think she lied
I said, this here is Lebanon
I’ve been here since I was a child
You I’ve never seen before
In all my living days
So how is it we’ve crossed paths
At the end of days
The year is 2153
And I was born in aught nine
This land was barron since before my birth
I’ve known no other kind
Dust and wind to burn the face
Sun to peal it off
Nothing but the barest food
Made it through the waste
There’s a small group of people
Living here at best
We barter for what we can
And then we steal the rest
The buildings have been torn down
Repurposed of used for firewood
Nothing resembling a town
That could be seen here as proof
She stared at me in wonder
Then looked upon the wall
Saw an old photograph
Of the town before the fall
She said, there’s the town I know
In that photograph
Looks just like my hometown
When I was a kid
I said, that’s from 1983
Before the world went splat
Before this time where we just survive
In a desert long and flat
I’ve heard stories passed around
Telling of a time
When plants and animals were plenty
And water came from the sky
She said, they’re not just stories
For I lived in that time
Was born in 1985
When the world was still alive
How is it, how’d it come to be
That you and I are talking of
What could be called history
I know no time in between
2001 and this where I am at
But know for sure I didn’t live it
All the days of which we spoke
I know that I awoke
To this barren land
But it wasn’t this way
When I went to bed on last Saturday night
I’ve been here a week, I think
And this is all I’ve seen
A land forsaken
Nothing but a storm
Who am I to question
The how or why I’ve seen
I just know my reality
It was changed while I dreamed
I gave her some food and water
And put her to bed
Wondering the whole time
Why I felt this dread
Can lives be transported
In the middle of your dreams
Can your whole world
Be changed in the blink of an eye
Who are we to wonder
The hows and whys of life
If only to live with purpose
And keep the sanctity of life
Many things bloom in the desert
Never seen by human eye
Who’s to say the people here
Can’t do the same
Dreams of times come and gone
Or visions of the future
No man has the wisdom alone
To find the answers posed since the beginning of
time
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