Dates dangle from the crown of the palm
Climb for a cluster at red-rimmed dawn
Add you dust to glowing wind
Make your plea to the whirling djinn
Walk the blade of a shifting dune
Breathe the mood of a cricket's tune
Keep the secrets of the sighing sands
Guard the shadow in your folded hands
Let shapes of distance boil in heat
And stones wear down beneath your feet
Let now mirage into a then
Until this once becomes again
Ever eastward may you roam
Till memory fails to call you home
Till minarets at sundown gleam
And what is real transcends your dream
