speaking of walls

the prettiest wall in leh
behind which the young donkeys grazed
while their minders sat in gossipy circles
knees a-folded, skirts hitched to the calves
in crass womanly poses
flashes of turquoise and silver
skin curling under the barking mad ladakhi sun
that doesn't forgive anyone
why did you have to travel so far,
it seems to say,
to find this place