Don't Touch Poem by Douglas Scotney

If your dictionary is a jargon-rich
2000 page Chambers, as is mine,
and you fondle it as I do mine,
at last you'll achieve 'nopalli'.

Broadly, 'prickly pear' in Nahuatl,
the language of the Aztecs,
it's the cactus used to rear
the cochineal insect on.

It is banned from my collection:
I do not like the tiny spines very much -
they don't go far in,
but are hard to remove from your skin.

I say 'nopalli' and mean:
Steer Clear, You'll Regret It, Don't Touch.