right hand pointing

ponders the abuse

she suffered as a child.

The nights were long,

bereft of a single star.

Mother Desert, far away,

awaited her arrival,

much more magical

than fairy tales of wolves,

witches, deceit, murder:

a place where darkness

sparkled with the light

of five thousand stars

and animals, with nothing

but will, breath, and clay,

pulsed their soft survival.