Mirage

It was a desert

(not my first)

and how it tasted of stretched skin!

sort of briny and red…

I wonder at sleep

and if it affects the gift of mirage;

how hopes or terrors enter unbidden

when the body fights for space.

Will I have to fill myself

forever and ever?

It was a moment

when sun flickered behind a cloud

and the stoplight changed,

pushing me forward.