Shape Shifter

Shape Shifter

"The desert is the ultimate labyrinth."
— Arab proverb

The stars have gone all strange.
The compass wanders
and will not hold.
The dunes shift in the night,
and if I'm not watching,
again in the day.

Lost is an inadequate word here.
"There" is just a mirage and
"here" isn't much clearer. I'm
beginning to doubt the sand
on which I stand. That tree
was over there when, weary,
I lay down to sleep. It didn't
go bump in the night, only shifted.

"Beware the shapeshifter!"

I was watching for an animal, or
a human. This is worse.

First appeared in Gathering Storm Magazine, Year 1, Issue 5. Click on the cover for Issue 5 (the scarecrow and windmill). Use the arrow on the right side to go to pages 14 and 15. The illustration (great!) is their choice. I like it. I’m getting ready to send them another batch of poems.

Note: several of the pieces in the magazine are not suitable for bedtime reading.

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