Relief

Better than Blistex
Better than any chemical salve
Or natural remedy
Was the sweet relief.

My lips were chapped from lack of water,
Parched, rather,
As though they had nearly reached
Their three-day limit.

Dried up like river beds,
Like the cracks in the ground at Drumheller,
Bleeding, too, actually.

Then it came to my rescue,
Healed me, made me new,
The soft, sweet mouth restored,
And sweet words of honey can flow again
Without self-deception,
Without misleading others.