You wandered, lonely as a cloud,
Drifting high over the seas and valleys;
When all at once, you saw a swarm
Of f a n n i n g palm trees, a trickling
cascade of
emerald
Fluttering down the mountainside,
Stretching beside the shoreline, cloaking cracked concrete
With an evergreen glow.
A flickering sparkle gleams from your eyes
As austere grey offices fade
Into an imprint of ash;
Replaced by the heavy heat, wistful waters,
And skin sinking into pillowy dunes
Until you’re unsure where the atoms of your skin
And the grains of the sand
Separate and begin.
Basking in your hazy fantasy,
You ignore the locals’ snickering
At your charred piglet-pink skin
Flailing around in the sand,
Your stringy hair stuck to your back
Like water-bloated snakes.
You ignore your blistering bowels
Ready to burst
Like a muddy volcano—
Because your stomach is foreign
And the food is not.
You still wander like a lonely cloud,
In search of some transcendental light
In this exotic land.
But your once golden sun
Boils you alive
Like an ignorant frog— Because it was never yours to begin with.
