Small Wonders

The heat of the day lingers
Even as the low haze
Filters the sunken sun

I stop for a moment
Lean up against the fender
In the dry, brittle air
While the engine tinks and cracks

I never tire
Of the small wonders this world offers

A sun baked fan of debris
Brought down from the low mountains
By intermittent rains
For hundreds of thousands of years

The sun, presiding over it all
Visits daily
First, bringing warm light and warmth
To the cold desert night
Before rising high
And beating down
With fierce blue rays

Late in the day
Power waning
The sky alight with amber and gold
I come to rest
Stop my journey for a moment
Waiting for the sun’s daily journey to end

At last, it sinks below the horizon
Colour lingering for a while
Before I climb back into the car
Engine cooled, no longer complaining

I become nothing but two dim lights
Following a thin strip of asphalt
Through the cold desert night

Me, and me alone
In the quietest place on Earth
A small speck of light
A small wonder
Rolling inconsequentially
Through a vastness
Of rock, gravel and sand

I will be gone
But the sun will come back
Tomorrow