Poem: "My mouth is dry as I speak"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMy mouth is dry as I speak—

the arm thrown round me was encircled

xxxxxwith two bracelets,

one, two leather thongs were tied together at their ends

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxby tiny coils of wire

pulled towards each other and closed by an S-shaped clasp;

xxxxxthe other, a thin ring of nickel

with a running groove that made the single round

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxlook like two.

Inside the circlets, the arm

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxwas withering,

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxhair bristling,

but the leather preserved its O

xxxxxxxxxxand the nickel resisted oxygen and shone.

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