the texture is not
of the skin of disease
or some poor victim of it
but for some reason
when i see those
rolling cloud hills
the photograph
of one of the last child victims
of smallpox
brings to my head
its sharp image
both the face
and the close up
of the red disasters
islands in a pink landscape
i don’t know if that child survived
i’m sure you can google it
it’s the image though
the clouds may be swollen down
in a small ball on blanket way
but why that image