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 companion volume In the Arms of Words: Poems For Disaster Relief, Sherman Asher Publishing (October 2005), and later in my chapbook Paper Snowflakes, available from Southern Hum Press (Scroll down)