Barren

deserts - both real and imagined

They
are the sand,
grains of sand.
Feel them sift
between your hands,
dissolving back into the land.

Mirages lure us
from the rocks
to build our homes
on shaky docks
of
shimmering sand,
rippling sand -
a face erased
by its own hand.

Feel it grind
your eyes to paste,
become your breath
and all you taste -
traveling sand,
scouring sand
sucks you down.
You cannot stand.