Soles

To walk is to touch inside
the skin of distance,
so I learn with my feet
to know the places I go.
Wearing shoes, still, I can tell
grass from mud
rock from sand
dry asphalt from wet.
At home, I will paint this joy with effort:
images of roads caressing hills,
stairs bending in succession,
of red dirt stroking between my toes.

Deborah Kelly