Time is Held Differently in the Desert

rain falls
tracing worn rock edges
slips into arroyos
fills canyons

what endures
what is blown away
becomes the Shape of time

long lines of poetry
etched in pale canyons
twisting in the shadow walls
along the river
echo, echo

Wind blows
OOOOOeeeeeeoooOOO
mantram into rock

endless repetitions
transformation

We read them in the moonlight
under our fingertips
remnants of the past
printed into our backs
resting against hot boulders

Time is held differently in the Desert

rain falls
tracing worn rock edges
slips into arroyos
fills canyons

rushing
lifting twigs
dry branches
gains force
uproots

then gone
as suddenly as it came

burial mounds remain
pushed against stone walls
drying in silence

hot arms of Sun reach
deeply into wet caverns
urging, “Let-go”

Wind arrives picking, plucking bits of sand
uncovering
stripping
twigs spin away
leaving only bones in the aftermath

even they will bleach
become prayers within the wind

Time is held
differently
in the Desert