when miriam died and the well
ran dry and israel’s arid soul
surged forth like sand in a
desert storm
moses tore open his robe
picked up his staff
and struck the rock over and
over and over there he remains
to this very day
sometimes when he dreams he
sees the face of god smiling in the rock
as it shatters into millions of
tiny shards but for now he’s still
flailing away at the hard stone
surface blinking away dry tears while the
the people howl at him in white hot
rage why did you make us leave egypt
to bring us to this wretched place
why there isn’t even
any water for us
to drink

(Numbers 20:1-11)