the sea of soft sand rippled like the corduroy you wore.
your caramel kiss lingered, cloyingly sweet...
on my parched lips.
nothing and everything was between us --
porcelain bones
baked pale by the scorching sun
staunch, stolid sentinels
suited with spines
serpents, coiled and ready to strike
venom-doused fangs bared for defense
dwarfish shrikes
devouring impaled victims
and a vast emptiness
swirling with stinging sand,
bitter --
awakened by my disillusionment.
