Ruins in Passage
Don’t touch
the texture of the sand dune;
don’t touch
the splinter on the two-by-four;
don’t touch
green paint peeling
on the old homestead house;
don’t touch
the crumpled lump of aluminum foil;
don’t touch
the crumbling mortar between
the gap-toothed bricks;
don’t touch
me.
We choose not to change
but have no choice
when you decide to touch.
Please
don’t touch.
Diane Webster’s work has appeared in El Portal, North Dakota Quarterly, New English Review and other literary magazines. She had a micro-chap published by Origami Poetry Press in 2022, and one of her poems was nominated for Best of the Net.