Return to 1997 SUMMER Index
Sun Burn
by Jonathan Day
Fierce heat beating down,
tarnishing the skin. Blistering
everything it could.
Overhead, the vultures
circling, awaiting
final throes of hope.
The lingering moments,
when this mans soul
or his life force
leaves his body.
Leaving emotionless, and immobile
a carcass
without loving, or love.
They lower, wings soaring.
Circle, ready to devour
said carcass.
But the body moves.
A haze.
The birds have never seen this before.
The man decides to live.
He pulls up his weary limbs.
He walks, nay, staggers forward.
In his posture he says
simply
I will live.
His thoughts travel
how he got here
why
Then he thinks of you
and despite the pain his dry lips crackle
and form a smile. The smile is for you.
Your beauty beyond words.
This reflection of you
is his oasis.
He drinks of your body
your lingering touch.
His thirst is quenched by memory of your kiss
and promise that you will kiss again.
You become his survival.
His existence. His reason for existing.
Save for you, you save
he would have died, mouth parched and dry, full of Desert sand.
But you live in his mind.
How tragic
That you lie
in another man's arms.