Desert Songs

I.
The brother has been wandering for days
trying to become fluent in fading –

fluent in the desert – with Abel’s corpse
slung across his shoulders like a goatskin;

walking backwards to erase his footprints;
as he tries to draw near the last sweetness
this harsh life grants, beyond this time and place.

II.
The people of the dry oasis fret,
restless for good rains. The nomads’ daemons
have shrunk their dates and grapes to one day’s stock.

These sands have felt their daily pains, tuning
their cries with the songs of the freezing night:

a baby born to wanderers in the dark;
the sounds of snakes and jackals hunting prey.