Désert

صحراء

I came back home

my youthful mind loaded

with memories and hopes

and my soul expecting

the subtle tenderness

of sweet welcoming words

but you were almost silent

and you left me puzzled

in the middle of a sentence

you never finished

your dog came 

wagging its tail

as if to make up

for your rudeness

and thus I entered

the present

of my maimed past

with the assurance 

that death could come 

at any time

and your dog 

was still cheerful 

...

In the desert of old

locusts and bees

kept company to John

and fed him

Claude Lopez-Ginisty