in the land of the setting sun

the naked earth still yields turquoise and gold riches
silver charms and eagles’ feathers scattered among
jagged cliffs which frame giant cactus miraculously
secluding water in this arid place… narrow rocky mule
paths wind through the russet and copper mountains
people still share the awe of the multitude of
setting colors marking the day’s end, orange-pink purples
that make the horizon glow with a sense of godliness…
finished is the gold rush and years of untamed adventure,
though fortunes are still to be made in the desolation
of the lands where the sun disappears into daily hope
it was a land where dreams turned into reality
yet even today city dwellers arrive in this wilderness
to taste the inhospitable wide open spaces
thunderbirds may not be legend, coyotes howl at the rouging sky
and there is always the first uneasy surprise finding the day’s end
marked with the zigzagging trace of a serpent




in the land of the setting sun
[2007.6.3…b]