Thirst
I am the carved-space hollow of a canyon
seeming soft and lake-waiting
my echo-parts thirst for water
You gaze from peaks at my emptiness
dry-ache shell of possibility
promise shudders for rains to come
You back-turn trace steps to bottled-water atrium
shake my static dust from clothes
intended for humid climes
I am the depth-reached heart of a cavern
comfort-home without equidistance
air comes gasping in throats
You hope-wished dampness here
wall-weeping drip and dank breaths
pressing moisture to parched lips
The way back is altered in the no light
though safer than to rest here
in the echo black dry darkness
I am desert sky cloudless breath
grown-shift movement across a dune
thoughtless steps and regrouped ground
Your footprint sears the heat-press of your will
seeking life-drop liquid on greedy tongues
imperceptive-definite elimination of was and is
The scorch-stretch sand and time wills on
you cannot drink from me
there is nothing left
seeming soft and lake-waiting
my echo-parts thirst for water
You gaze from peaks at my emptiness
dry-ache shell of possibility
promise shudders for rains to come
You back-turn trace steps to bottled-water atrium
shake my static dust from clothes
intended for humid climes
I am the depth-reached heart of a cavern
comfort-home without equidistance
air comes gasping in throats
You hope-wished dampness here
wall-weeping drip and dank breaths
pressing moisture to parched lips
The way back is altered in the no light
though safer than to rest here
in the echo black dry darkness
I am desert sky cloudless breath
grown-shift movement across a dune
thoughtless steps and regrouped ground
Your footprint sears the heat-press of your will
seeking life-drop liquid on greedy tongues
imperceptive-definite elimination of was and is
The scorch-stretch sand and time wills on
you cannot drink from me
there is nothing left
Life-liquid
rain and wind-torn whistling leaves
palms upheld towards nourish-gifted skyfall
the skin washed clean
shows scars
riven fingertip paths tracing to wrist
long-life future stretched
palm to heart
pulse-throb grasp of palest skin
lined green
puckering soaked thirst
saturate plump flesh filled and cleansing
alive
until
hair against face is clasping
pain and plaster
white scalp-line spaces beneath dark
dry-leave bones and arid flesh-threads
what you built has gone
skin peels mould-made by dextrous fingers
flakes
skeletal live walking
stripped breath
stripped life-liquid
bones bared, rattle
palms upheld towards nourish-gifted skyfall
the skin washed clean
shows scars
riven fingertip paths tracing to wrist
long-life future stretched
palm to heart
pulse-throb grasp of palest skin
lined green
puckering soaked thirst
saturate plump flesh filled and cleansing
alive
until
hair against face is clasping
pain and plaster
white scalp-line spaces beneath dark
dry-leave bones and arid flesh-threads
what you built has gone
skin peels mould-made by dextrous fingers
flakes
skeletal live walking
stripped breath
stripped life-liquid
bones bared, rattle
Harley J. Ryley is a poet living in Sheffield, UK. Her work has been featured in Route 57 and the digital publication 'For the Love of', as well as on BBC Radio Sheffield. Her work is inspired by the her perception of relationships between accumulated 'things', selfhood and trauma. Harley is currently studying an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Sheffield.