blue sky [poem]

I won’t lie to you
sometimes
I am as empty as the Texas summer sky
and this is just a false smile
a beautiful shade of brilliant blue
the cloudless stretch becomes a metaphor
for the numbness
the mask of contentment that hides a drought
my waterless eyes
no less in danger of crying
just less obvious than heavy raindrops
trickling down my cheeks
instead
cracked earth smiles show the desperate need
for something other than all this
blue sky