Dry No More (Real Enough)

17 August 2026

https://poems.culturing.net/2026/08/17/dry-no-more-real-enough/

I have been to the desert places.
I found myself parched and denied
any access to water, or the healing power
of love. But I kept walking through.
Near the end I saw you, who reminded
of so many things that I could not flee.
I was no longer free, but not sick either,
finally allowed to heal. Were you real?
I think so, in some sense, and yet not
in the simplest terms. You were real
to me, and that is real enough. I
would still call it love, of a certain kind,
but the love of a teacher and friend.
It will do. I will carry it. It moistens my lips.