This is how I will depart from Earth

Dedicated to Lina Harper and Megan

by Onu Oremun

My bare feet bear the burden, but bring the coolness of life to me;
This is the beginning.
I will climb a rocky mountain and follow the connecting ridges until they end;
Here I hear the Earth’s last song.
I will walk through and through the falls of the great Kerepakupai Merú;
Its heavy water washes away the past.
I will swing vines and scale trees to make my way deep into the Amazon;
Lose myself in the jungle to come out clean.
I will run naked across the Sahara desert and let the sand cover my body like armor;
An outside element moves with me and against me.
I will ride on the back of a gazelle as a lion chases it down on the plains of the Serengeti;
Instinct and adrenaline, nothing more, is the fuel for life.
I will lie amongst the rubble of an old medieval castle and look up at its tallest remaining tower;
The time has come to go.
At the bottom of the Grand Canyon, I will wiggle down, through the many layers, to the Earth’s core;
There I throw away every binding fear into the wild bubbling magma.
Then, shooting up through Waimangu geyser, I will fly like a rocket beyond all things I know.
Touch a cloud, touch a star, touch forever.