my finger tips are dry
but feel well against my cracked lips

today they have silenced a whisper
parted barbed wire

picked wattle
and broken a fall

cut words from a book older than my mother
held a cup of coffee

and spilled white, paper-wrapped sugar
they have disappointed me in their appearance

and  stayed away from bull ants
they have not played guitar

not
even once …

© 2014 Melinda Irvine