Dominion over Desert

Off Afrique
From the Levant
After midnight
These djinn
Whisper through the barrio
Carrying roses

For the lady
One euro
For the lady
One euro

Are we still
So distant
From the point
Where the two seas meet?

I dance
around
your sifr
and build a tower
of numbers upon it

but when we sit,
what colour will the ground
beneath us turn?

The wrong battle
is waged
there is no victory
in dominion over desert

place your Rosa Damascena
in the sand
for the lady

James Piers Taylor, 8/9/2006 London

IMAGE: Zul-Quarnain and Al-Khadir from illustrations to the Sikandar Nâma.