No Place to Hide

 

A heart stopped beating

on the desert's coarse, burning palm.

An aged, open hand,

veins of dried ravines and silver,

rings of ancient azurite

caress those fallen from their desperate journey.

Still, and with unwitnessed beauty,

the desert wears its scars so obviously.

No place to hide

the scattered history of our abuse,

cracked plastic with faded labels, rubber turned to powder, mellowed glass.

No place to hide

our secrets.

Parchment newsprint, blown about just last week,

obscure in the empty wash—

a small column on the back page

tells of another crossing, another death.

You were found face down.

Your plaid flannel shirt led them to you

on a pressing July afternoon.

No place to hide.

And I wonder,

when you were small and your mother held you,

nourishing fragile dreams

in those dark, quiet eyes,

how did she see you now?

 

Carol Lieber

 

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