In the Desert
after Stephen Crane
In the desert,
I saw a creature walking towards me.
I walked toward it
because I was lost
and because I had long lost fear.
He was a short, elfish creature
with small, bloodshot eyes.
He held a gun in his hand.
He said, “I have chosen you to be my master.
It could have been anyone,
but it is you.”
“Where are we?” I asked.
“An endless desert,” he said.
“The world is a sphere.
You arrive where you started.”
I believed him, for his shoes were mangled
and barely covered his toes,
which were black with blood.
I resumed walking
with the creature behind me.
Whenever we saw someone,
he fired his gun,
and the shape dissolved into thin air
like an extinguished flame.
“Phantasms,” he mumbled.
Such that I walked for years
without meeting anyone.
Such that after ten years,
I wanted to kill him,
but I had no gun.
“I dare you to kill me,” I said.
“Like you killed the others.”
He pondered this in apparent pain.
“Perhaps it is better that I leave you.”
He said and left me.
Years later,
I saw him again,
following someone else.
I saw them stop.
I saw him raise his gun.