Zerzura

Zerzura
lost oasis
oasis of the lost

Sahara
words like the silica glass
from a prehistoric meteorite
pyramids and sphinxes of the mind

Zerzura forever
there or not there
in some distant wadi

On a high cliff face
a rock painting
of a palm tree
thousands of years old
from the time when the desert
ran with rivers and game

Time
a line of lizard tracks
the lizard nowhere to be seen

A thousand miles into the desert
I remember an old woman
in a wheelchair
in the middle of a Cairo highway
holding out her hands for alms
among the crazy traffic