Never On the Map of My Life

I wander the desert alone- through an ocean of sand in my dream . . . thinking myself on an adventure and walk in golden softness in a place empty and drifting a place of solitude strangely magic, and I hear the desert speaking in a whispering hush barren, sun bleached and sun-choked empty of all things human yet I hear a bird's laugh with an endless, timeless rhythm this land hushes but wait- a prickly cactus and a snake- hiss- in this place of nothingness or is that just my imagination speaking thirst painful, my mouth is bone dry- has been for hours, days it seems parched and withered of all moisture . . . in my head I am screaming this wretched place was never on the map of my life so why did my dream take me here to wander alone and lost in a vastness of azure skies and infinite pristine sand, but wait, an . . . oasis, refuge, relief at last . . . a turquoise sea suddenly appears beyond a sand cliff with sparkling water to the horizon with cays of gulls and trees deep and tender green rustle not far I walk out of the utter, empty, unforgiving desolation of the desert and into the cool water waiting with a sigh. . . then I awake __________________________ October 13, 2018 Poetry/Free Verse/Never on the Map of My Life Copyright Protected, ID 18-1071-027-01 All Rights Reserved. Written under Pseudonym. Written for the contest, I Wander The Desert Alone sponsor, Edward Ebeh Required words - barren, oasis, thirst with metaphors and onomatopoeia Second Place