They said the valley never changed from when
The good old kings let loose their pantries full
Their rivers overrun with easy life
And looking on from our long road ahead
I could believe the stories, all of them
A golden floe amid the verdant groves
The biggest guy I'd ever seen proclaimed
His word as good as anyone's I guess
He'd come this way before a veteran
Of ten long loops at least his forehead
An atlas bought and paid in ribboned red
And ears like cauliflower ripe and jugged
I asked his name my ignorance pretense
Of course I'd seen him fight a hundred bouts
His strength renowned my boyish fandom fresh
Of course he knew as much on sighting me
An easy mark in any half-wit's eyes
As I'd soon come to learn green ears boiled red
But feigning great humility he smiled
And stoked our fire like he'd adopted it
Well in the ring they call me King of Pain
But the big man up top calls me the Draw
Young boys like you though can just call me Sir
And Sir we knew him forever Sir
He stayed to me long past respect was due
Not from great love as you might expect
But carried scorn you'll see I never dropped
Of course he'd never see the floe himself
We knew but still believed our hopes as proof
The gnarly brother played the greatest hits
And so we sang along our hearts in tune
And hummed our way afoot the crumbling road
And even dreaming followed Sir's gold path
Desires awake and dancing up ahead
To bridge the gap between the road that leads
Forward as ever and paths that loop back
Upon themselves into themselves and then
The Past no longer phantom weight instead
A Place to go to see and drink our fill
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Mark Wadley is the founding editor of BRUISER.