Thirsty Work

Two brothers, parched, lips all cracked,
Water was the thing they lacked,
Crawling o’er the burning sand
In uncharted desert land.
Eventually, their wand’rings led
To a dried –up river bed.
Distressed to find out that nobody
Else was present at the wadi,
They kept on crawling on their knees
Towards a mirage of some trees,
But what they found there, almost dead,
Was one more dried-up river bed.
But still they bravely persevered
Although their own destruction neared.
Lungs a-burning, fit to burst,
Mouths all caked up from the thirst.
Cobwebs in their minds were spun,
Underneath the cruel sun.
As vultures circled overhead,
Lo! A dried-up river bed!
The younger one, now almost gone,
Whispered “Dave, I can’t go on.
We’re just going, dearest brother,
From one ex-stream to another.”