wear mud like cashmere coats

and lope along as if

no stone can stumble one

who leaps. They navigate

by heart and foot but more

by eye, looming up on

snack carts and fallen bones

the way chairmen survey

real estate: gauging risk

by appraising structure.

They tamp the sodden road

with soggy feet, grinding

leaves and mooncake paper

in their teeth. If they sleep,

sleep rubs like silk across

their noses. If they rise,

they rise like the arched tongues

of thundering tigers.