Nothing Left To Defend

Oo heat
I met him where the road grew thin, where the trees forgot
Their names.
He carried dust
Like history and spoke like
Time had waved.
He asked me if
I'd walk
With him and singing past where
The markers fade.
He said the way was
Long and wild and would not leave me unchanged.
He said the night would burn my face,
The cost would not be small.
He said the road might take my breath
Before it gave me dawn.
He said, "If you
WOULD COME WITH ME, what would you
Choose to bear?"
I said, "Then let me
Take the courage that mary