In the heat

Like a weight
Upon my skull
The sun bears down
As heat drifts up
From dusty ground

I wonder
At the tenacity
Of living things
And marvel at the beauty
Death sometimes brings

The moon in the light of day

At those times
When the moon is visible
In the light of day
I may be reminded
That darkness is never far away

I may think of friends
Who are far away
But always in my orbit
Always there
Even if not visible
In my daylight skies

I don’t know
If there is a heaven

But I try to live every day
As if it were a tread
On the staircase
Which would take me there

The light does not come unbidden
But is always there

All I need
Is to open my eyes

Remembering

That by “eyes”
I mean heart

We climbed
And climbed
All day we climbed

And then we rested
Ate and slept a little
Then rose
Rose up in the dark

And then we climbed
And climbed some more
Torches in our hands
Footfalls stiff
On granite cold

I watch over
The underdogs
And lost causes

I assure
Their voices
Are heard

I speak for them
When they cannot
Speak for themselves

We approached the ziggurat
Towing over thirty feet of living space
Exiting
The Valley of the Gods

Switchbacks, gravel and steep grades
More than a thousand feet straight up
I wondered
At the wisdom of this drive

Then the thought
Each adventure ever had
Begins with
Just a little bit of faith

How many hours have I spent
Without lament
On ocean shores
Listening to waves crash down
And then recede

Nature’s architects
With little more than time and sand
A little wind, a spot of rain
Build great cities
Rife with ornament

From the grey
Unbroken void
Ancestors rose
Their voices rang

With their first step
Began their song
Which made the land
I stand upon