|||||||

X
I am of the desert.
A pillar of sand holding against the wind,
absorbing the days and releasing the nights.
My attentions tumbleweed,
my soul seeks shade.
But I trust all to the wind and dry rivers
and bear witness to the sun.

You are of the desert.
Offering flowers
or needles
to those who see past your mirage.
Dry plains stretch far,
and beneath shifting dunes -
underground rivers;
so much life.

We are of the desert.
Dust to dust, fretting over grains of sand,
minds thrumming like cicadas.
Our secrets hide from the sun
and surface in the cool night.
Every sense can listen
and the wind is never wrong.
Birds know where to shelter,
and when to be still -
when all shadows merge into one.

X
Time trickles out
and moments drip into memories;
memories and emotions make clay
of which bricks are formed and fired
to build the edifice
that holds the story
of who you were.

But as to who you are,
the long years and memories can’t say;
those bricks are not made.

Long years
cast long shadows.
While we lay the mortar,
the bricks wonder,
'How long before
I can become dirt again?'

X
Nature's cacaphony
conspires against your repose.
The dead can sleep in
but all else get the alarm,
the circadian shout,
the war-cry:
Rise!
Your own conspiracy awaits!
After all
gravity, entropy and dystopia
won’t fight
themselves.

X
It was you
that silently jolted me awake
in the dead of night.
Cold sweat dripping,
sixth sense buzzing.

It is you.
I know it’s you though we’ve never met.
I had no idea of you until I woke up 10 seconds ago.
The room is empty but all I sense...

Is you,
out there.
My empty mind knows it
and the silence is overloading my awareness,
triggering flight response,
raising goosebumps and hackles.
Fear, but it’s fear of myself. What am I about to do?
Tearing off the sheets I run to the living room and throw open the big curtain.
But I already know what I’ll see.

You
You’re in that metal object hovering 100 yards away
radiant, beautiful.
My breath is gone and this is the moment I feared.
Without a second thought, I start running.
Wait, was this what I wanted?
I’ve never run so fast.
Wait for me
I’m coming.

---

When is memory true?
How do you know when you're not awake?
It was definitely a dream,
or...