Desperation
Creative Secondary School, Gabi Leung, Poetry: Group 3
A vanilla-streaked carpet covering the dome of the world,
Fragile sand mountains ready to shatter a touch,
Like the first draft of pyramids sculpted with nature’s clay.
Scattered camels, as settled as rocks, gaze up to the blue of the sky with fan-lashes.
The clouds glisten, as if succumbing to the heat as well,
Ah, the desert,
A piece of thirsty ice consuming the grains by night,
A simmering furnace of invisible flames cocooning all by day.
A traveler blonde and fair,
Venturing through the whipping wind.
An explorer well-prepared,
Sand venturing through his eyes.
He had dreamed of the ocean wide,
He had dreamed of the water’s shimmer.
The land of heat and dry before him
Would never be a substitute.
When his eyes shut he could remember
The cool feel of the garden hose and
The glow of his family
Oh why had he ever asked for an adventure?
He sat on the sand dejected,
Feeling nothing but horrible heat.
An explorer once enthusiastic,
Now a boy missing home.
He blocked the tears before they fell,
Crystalline carvings jammed in their skintight ducts.
Continuing his journey,
Hope for safety and rest his only thought.
Golden wisps dance before his vision,
Mocking me, he thinks.
As he places one foot in front of the other,
They begin to mirror his frantic thoughts.
