My tribe is scattered 

Behind the strawberry fields 

of my imagination 

I ache for those I love

To join me amongst the stars 

For without you I have failed

My heavy heart falters

As I see your faces

Etched into my scorched soul

Branded like a lost calf

Brooding under the western moon

Casting shadows over itinerant cowboys

That sip coffee slowly to enliven their fatigued minds

Dreaming of dollars 

Dropped from the heavens like manna

This was never your land

Stolen from the Sioux

Without mercy or honour… 

 

Yet I love her so

With pure eyes and fleeting kisses 

Writing about the great plains

When she is from Egypt 

Beautiful Anuket 

Goddess of the Nile

All my thoughts jumbled by desire

A jigsaw puzzle that’s never to be completed! 

Just dreams, false hopes 

The nearly man

Too early for breakfast 

Too late for supper 

Sitting close to ideas

Formed by the flames 

Dancing smoke demons

Playing tambourines of bone

Scalps of God’s chosen 

Who suffered alone

In the desert of despair 

Behind strawberry fields…. 

 

by Mark C Bolton April 2025

photography by Nesli @neslik