God's Breath

All gods disappear when the throne is absent (Julian Jaynes)

Dry wind blows hot on the desert.
You can hear the hiss
of sand as it scours the rock.

If you listen too long to this whisper,
you can hear gods talk
as the whispering silence mounds up.

What you see is sand
and ever present upthrusts of rock.
Should you choose to walk,
you leave undefined prints
in the sand.

You may hear a wail in the wind
(it’s a demon mocking),
see water as ripples on sand.

If you learn to doubt what you hear
and to distrust
water that recedes from your touch,
you have learned enough:

you now know the wisdom of deserts.