When the rains fall and thirst lies forgotten And the land no longer fails to blossom And the brow’s sweat and the body’s long toil Become memories of hot wind, crude oil, And rough-grained handles, splintered and wooden Work washed clean of sand’s grit, grease, unction Blessing the day’s work, smeared across cotton Rags’ white expanse cast upon the ground, soiled When the rains fall and thirst lies forgotten In the deep night, the star’s watch, rest sought in Restless beds dreams relive days, work-trodden, Ground beneath the crude machine-need for oil And industry’s demand for profit, coiled, Enfanged in flesh, trading life for margins When the rains fall and thirst lies forgotten When the rains fall and thirst lies forgotten The body’s work laid down and forgotten The body cast aside, buried and forgotten The body remembers, its calloused hands And grease-smeared fingers on work-worn hands No longer feel the rain fall and thirst lies forgotten Copyright © 2021 Lee Butler. All rights reserved.