A Walk on the Dunes

You get sand in your nostrils
That's the first thing

Sand in your nostrils
Not in your eyes
Despite what they say
They being people
Who have never actually
Set forth in between the dunes here

'Stead they sit on those outdoor patios
In the restaurants
By the man-made pools
Bounce around from hotel to hotel
Saying 'We're adventuring!'
'We're living wild!'
'Look at us!'

Fuckin' prigs

I have sand in my nose
I have sand in my eyes
I have sand in my blood

Not to be too damn poetic about it
But they don't know life out here
Unless someone slips it into their Saharan Cosmo

My father used to take me out here
Make me build a canvas
Out of the shirt I was wearing
And when the sandstorm would hit
He'd stand there
With his arms outstretched
Like he was a boat
Going into a big wave

And no matter how loud it got
I could hear him laugh

And when it was all over
I'd have dirt pouring out of my mouth
Actually coming out of my mouth
Like I was throwing it up

And he looked as clean
As if he'd just popped out of a bath

That's how I knew
My father had courage

He transcended his physical surroundings
Just by drowning himself in them

Sorry, that was a bit poetical
You get any sand up near your billy's yet?

Don't worry
You will

But that's all just the cost of courage
Discomfort, and whatnot
All that's what builds you up

On the way back home
After we'd spent days out in the desert
I'd be walking slow
My feet burnt
My legs tired

And my Dad would say
'I'm proud of you, boy'

And I'd say--
'Because I'm a man?'

And he'd say--
'Of course you're not a man!
A snake went over your foot
While you were sleeping
And you wet yourself
And screamed like a birthing camel--

--BUT,' he'd continue
Putting his hand on my shoulder

'You're on your way to something
And that's a very good thing to be'

Then we'd walk on the dunes
And eat black market cherries
He'd picked up before we left
And hid from me the whole trip

We'd eat and we'd walk on the dunes

And I remember the cherries tasting funny

But maybe it's because
We'd been eating nothing but cactus skin
For days

Or maybe it was because
They were being eaten by someone
Who could appreciate the feeling
Of brilliant relief
In a place so banal and dry
For the very first time

Watch yourself over that next dune there

I get the feeling
We could be running into a group
Of desert gypsies

Or we might hit one of those hotels

Or something else entirely

My father used to say
That's the best part
About coming up
Over a dune

You never really know
What's on the other side