Credit – gorp.com

By D. R. DiFrancesco

~~~~~

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.