Desert
Josephine Miles


When with the skin you do acknowledge drought,
The dry in the voice, the lightness of feet, the fine
Flake of the heat at every level line;

When with the hand you learn to touch without
Surprise the spine for the leaf, the prickled petal,
The stone scorched in the shine, and the wood brittle;

Then where the pipe drips and the fronts sprout
And the foot-square forest of clover blooms in sand,
You will lean and watch, but never touch with your hand.