there is a
recession of
heartsoil
leaving nothing
but arid desert
where bountiful
verdancy once
reigned supreme

a deprivation
of essential need
an anemia in
tired denials
swirling sands
bite and sting
burying all traces
of fossilized hope

a sleepless night
draped in these
ever present
aimless anxieties
a rejection of
thorny dream as
the dunes grow
incrementally higher