The road winds
like loose wool
turned by paws
on green carpet.
Things in the distance squat—
tents perhaps—
preen themselves in desert twilight, we
stare with lanterned eyes.
Horse offal turns dark
before darkness
as the heavens tent out
over the sand.
We shall soon
descend to Nineveh
camel by camel
and watch the flames
go out
on the last adulteries.
Published in California State Poetry Quarterly, 1979
George Ellenbogen's poems have appeared in several anthologies and magazines, as well as in many collections of his work.
