Cypress trees sprang

up from veins.

Azure columns erected

in the pink sand.

I carried with me

all the symbols

of a changed nature:

a winged scepter

in my hard fist,

the sharp arrow

of my throat,

my bare chest

in the fabricated sun.

Sphinx face flushed

against mine.

One paw held

the pleat of my waist.

In the desert

of our making,

she let me be the man.