8

2.  T h e   F a c e s 

of cinnabar

loom deep

within the thick,

palpable darkness

of the desert:

faces the miners

take their picks to:

faces feebly lit

by little candles

fastened to their hats:

faces crumbled 

to fill wagons

for droplets of quick-

silver: wagons 

the burros,

staggering, groaning, 

and bleeding,

drag in sunlight.