If I Ran From You

Karen Shenfeld
From:   The Fertile Crescent. Toronto: Guernica, 2005.

If I ran from you
to Ouagadougou,
I'd hear your voice in
talking drums.

If I ran from you
to Coromandel,
I'd catch your scent off
salted winds.

If I ran from you
to Auxerre,
I'd feel your touch in
blades of grass.

If I ran from you
to the well of Khaba,
I'd see your shape in
whirling djinns.

If I ran from you
to Madurai,
I'd taste your kiss from
banana leaves.

If I ran from you
to Muktinath,
I'd send you my prayers off
spinning wheels.

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Karen Shenfeld's works copyright © to the author.