Camels are coming

Eagerly, then ecstatic

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If prophets were abolished
think of the wild camels,
      the wild dates,
      the wild oats,
the wildering profustion of Arabia
without those bearded, restless beatniks.

Call your camel and
hundreds of
spice-bears, giraffes, heliothrix
pour from the oases.
Onagers and quaggas at your doorstep.
A graceful quandary of quans
neighing in delight
at John the Baptist
grinning by the desert
at his unfeathered friends.

Dennis List