Red Rock Nightfall
We were warned about scorpions sensing our warmth
But still we headed out to that desert tower.
I could not get over the sense of space as we climbed
Over tables and shelves of red rock around dusty
Columns and up through smooth chimneys until -
We found a large table that faced the western sky.
A sky that stopped my heart for one brief second
That made the world swirl round that sun in a spiral of
Red and purple cloud striations that bled away from the sky
Down through the dusty desert air and into the rocks around
us.
Not a soul in sight - the only sound was our breathing.
Our cameras hung idle and we sat down - hard
And just like that the sun, too fell hard behind a line
Of sand and rubble that went grey and then indigo.
The stars blinked on and on and on and as I looked
The sky became the heaviest blanket pressing us
Back, back toward the flat tabletop on which we sat.
I found myself lying there lost in the sheer numbers
Specks of light and bright gleaming dots, constellations
Taking form with such size and definition -
All against this fuzz of light from millions of stars.
We settled flat against the rock and felt the desert dust
Settle over us and the night press down with a weight
That pushed our souls outward and upward.
I thought what a glorious end it would be
To be fossilized like that scorpion I’d seen at the museum
Pressed into the rock by the desert dust, the indigo night
The stars of the ages, the cold passage of time.
Poetry Jam - this week we think about the word 'rock' ...
'Free verse may be written as very beautiful prose; prose may be written as very beautiful free verse. Which is which ?'
- John Livingston Lowes
- John Livingston Lowes
