Jeweled Desert

Credit - gorp.com

Credit – gorp.com

By D. R. DiFrancesco

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The late fall sky

Bathed in tangerine and magenta

Fragrance of Palo Verde and Cottonwood fills the air

Serenity cloaks the towering granite peaks

Wrapping them in shades of purple and gold

Exalting their millennial majesty

The coyote’s bay

Floating effortlessly through the canyons

They share their lonesome longing song

Adorned as if otherworldly

Cacti and the gnarled Joshua tree dot the desolate Sonoran desert

Prickly and unpretentious in their beauty

The landscape ruled by snake and scorpion

Rattle of the tail and venomous sting, relics of the deadly precipice

The destiny awaiting the oblivious visitor

Rain devoid xeriscape

Designed by the marvelous hand of nature

Wondrous in it’s simplicity and complexity

Man could not have created such a miraculous wonder

For our nature is to destroy

Still the creator left flawed beings as the keepers

To cherish and protect his prized ecru jewel.

Trip to Nowhere

Hwy 93 Arizona

At daylight’s break embark to travel,

Down roads of asphalt, concrete and gravel.

Destination unknown, no map in hand,

Fun is not knowing where we will land.

Crossing desert dry, barren and bleak,

Distant the cool tree covered mountain peaks.

Joshua tree forest must first be traversed,

Bizarre and twisted as something not of this earth.

Joshua Tree Forest – Arizona

What wonders this world continues to show,

With every mile we travel many more to go.

Sadly this beauty for youth won’t be mentioned,

Instead iPods, iPads and Facebook capture their attention.

Nowhere, Arizona a one building town,

Stopping to look, not a soul to be found.

Dilapidated and boarded the structure in disrepair,

By harsh wind or rot  it will soon vanish in thin air.

The landscape it changes as if landing on the moon,

Mountains of boulders stacked across the desert are strewn.

As if blown from volcanoes long ago extinct,

Coloring the imagination or at least a pause to think.

Not long, maybe not more than a mile,

In the rearview mirror the unexplainable rock pile.

More desert, it never seems to end,

To Bull Head or Mead, to go straight or take the bend.

Go straight wins by the toss of a coin,

To Hoover and Mead a sight we purloin.

Desolate landscape finally breaks,

Over a hill in mountains our breath it does take.

Up and up we had unknowingly gone,

Thousands of feet of climb we have done.

Deep down below the majestic Colorado River,

It twinkles and glistens in the sun gives us shivers.

As high as we are so small it appears,

Looking over the edge it’s magnificence brings tears.

Hoover Dam – Arizona / Nevada

The mighty Hoover Dam lion tamer to Lake Mead,

It’s concrete and steel whip contains the rivers on which it feeds.

Drought and overuse have taken its toll,

Leaving scarred and starving this wonderful man-made bowl.

Still the ingenuity of this feet is something to behold.

It’s sight is jaw-dropping and never gets old.

Lake Mead – Nevada / Arizona

Great distances unnecessary, unplanned and unscripted,

A simple excursion my spirits uplifted.