desert ode

A windy and gray desert day diffuses to an end
A baked and gnarled tumbleweed rolls 'round the bend
From an obscured horizon browned with sand and dusty skies.
Tumbleweed chases a churning twister that hungrily tries

To sweep clean the earthen floor in a dirt-thirsty swirl,
Catapulting desert debris and fragments in the whirl
Of flying particles and cactus spines, swooshed up high,
Spinning ecstasy of a madcap dash high into the sky.

Dim filtered sun slips away, disappearing out of sight,
Trailing a muddy brown to herald the edge of night.
There’s no splendor in its leaving, not a tinge of fanfare.
Deep sigh fashions a velvet cloak of silence, where

The winds are calmed, the twister dies, the dust lays still.
The silhouette of a coyote emerges lone upon a hill.
Ghostly white whisper, glides the owl with gleaming eyes.
Coyote's howl echoes o'er the desert floor and fills the skies

With the plaintive song of centuries in herald of the light,
Which ascends in alabaster, casting shadows in its sight
Of many-armed saguaros stretching tall in sculptured shapes,
Tough cactus, creosote, palo, and mesquite each makes

Their tenacious grasp for life in this arid desert scene,
Which the moon embroiders silver as it casts its gentle sheen
On the lonely frozen hillside and the rocks of deep dark stone,
Illuminating desert creatures in their rugged desert home.