deserts

from across the arid expanse, I watched you abandon me.
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.