whipped orange flames
and amber skies shout black
Justice into hearts of Man
where Sodom Gomorrah’s
swift sleep bears single witness:
a woman who has only heard
stories of floods and fallen men
from which she reaped rewards,
Lot’s Lord has commanded
‘Do not look back
at the city running red
children all dead
perverted men fed
their Just desserts
you make take in the sounds
of skin-boiled crowds
man fallen down
but do not turn around.’
led by Lot’s hand
the desert woman
felt sobs filled with salt
seep through cracks
of her desert skin
not able to push through
who among them
was not Sodom or Gomorrah?
she remembered
a far thought—
it had been three years
since Lot had intermixed
his passions with hers and
truly embraced.
two years of prayer and
tears passed while
she glared at that gray
barren sky.
She would spend one year
learning to molt
from her skin.
Lot was too busy
speaking with his lord to
notice his wife turn around.