Camel

Camel

Stare me down if you must

With your ageless dreams, rhythms

Oars dipping to drumbeat, caravans

Inching across the horizon

But tell me

Did you doze off too?

When Scheherazade lulled

The insomniac Harun

Or eavesdrop on

The small talk of Kings bearing gifts

And you surely must have blushed

When Salome danced

Or blinked in unbelief

At the grave of Lazarus

Still, you had your fifteen minutes

Tethered to a dog wood, perhaps

On the slopes of Calvary

And you could hardly

Have remained impassive

When they nailed his hands and feet

Tommy Murray