Progress could not be measured.
Officials and military hobbyists were constantly
drawing maps but there were no real troops
standing in for the little colored pins
that came with the map kits. The pins
were moved endlessly with the hope
that they might come to mean something.
There were signs to be read: the alternated
flight patterns of certain birds,
unusual configurations of bones and animal entrails,
scattered before an augur could be found.
Voices in the wind seemed like
only wind. A few children who heard
the words thought they were part of the hoax.