Then on the path to Jericho,
I’m plagued by uncertainty,

“Is the man wearing a top coat
my neighbor?”  A girl nudges me,

startles me with gentleness.  We dance.
And the way she tells the story:

No one dances alone.  “Include
is a verb,” she explains.

“Am I wearing the clothing of a liar?”
I ask.  Thankfully, she does not answer.

first published in In the Arms of Words: Poems for Tsunami Relief, limited edition, FootHills Publishing, (June 2005), and In the Arms of Words: Poems For Disaster Relief, Sherman Asher Publishing (October 2005), and later in Paper Snowflakes, available from Southern Hum Press, reprinted in A Bouquet of Poems by Winston-Salem Poets (with Isabel Zuber and Becky Gould Gibson) Poet of the Week on the North Carolina Arts Council web site, selected by Kathryn Stripling Byer (August 2006)