In the Sahara
by Cristina Nehring (January 2024)
Draw me a sheep,
Says the prince to the pilot,
Say I to you,
Write me a poem.
–
Make me an object of my own,
That I can carry
To my planet over there in the mist.
It is very small.
–
I have no room for a boa constrictor
With an elephant inside,
Nor an ox or a bull,
Nor anything, you understand, with horns.
–
Nor will I take a sheep from you
With death in his face,
Nor one who eats grass.
My planet has roses only.
–
I need eternal life
And a small appetite.
A thirst for red. A taste for thorns.
And I need you, my love, to draw it for me.
–
Table of Contents
Cristina Nehring published The Child Who Never Spoke: 23 1/2 Lessons in Fragility on October 24, 2023. She is also the author of A Vindication of Love which made the front page of the New York Times Book Review as well as of two books in French. She writes for the Atlantic, Harper’s, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. She lives in Paris with her daughter.
Follow NER on Twitter @NERIconoclast