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Six Meditations on the Desert from Brother Coyote

I.

Once you take time
For listening
To nothing
But the silence
Pulsing like your heartbeat
Across the arid expanse
Sounds from far away
Which your ears
Have never heard
Suddenly come
To greet you.

 

II.

If we define the desert
Only by what it lacks
We may miss
All the space it offers
So that we may see
That all we’ll ever need
Is already here, here.

 

III.

For you little trees in the desert
It’s not about how high
Your limbs rise in the desert
But about how deep
Your roots can reach
Toward something hidden
Wet and fecund.

 

IV.

The wind blows
Across the desert pavement
Day after day.
Before you know it,
All the dirt is gone
From below and between
The stones
Allowing each one
To sink closer
To the others
Descending into
A snug fit.

 

V.

Walking as quietly
As you can
At dawn
Across the desert floor
Are you surprised
When the sand
Beneath your feet
Creaks, speaks to you
And the little pebbles
Which you trod across
Crackle and cackle
In response
To your presence?

 

VI.

The scorching heat
The desiccating drought
Which we once feared
Now seem to bring out
The fragrance in us
The sandblasted sheen
On our skin now luminous.

 

 

 

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