for Cowboy

[Mom]

Soothe Me

Long stretches of nothing, nothing
Colors almost of death
Brown and grey and taupe
Rocks, craggy and ancient
Carved by a millennium of
Wind and water and harshness
Scattered growth
Struggling to live
Struggling to complete their cycle
Nature at its most pared down
And yet scattered around for the searching eye
Are blooms – yellow, blue, rust
Blooms of hardy beings compelled to make tomorrow
Above, clouds of a clear sapphire blue
Pure, almost untouched by man
Sky like it has been from the beginning
Ancient and yet new
And this sparse world soothes me
Soothes my soul with its winds
Winds sometimes gentle
But often harsh and strong enough to change the world
It strokes my heart
Lulls my brain
In this strange almost foreign landscape
You take nothing for granted
Today is your world
Live for it
Breathe it in
Breathe in its harshness and its gentleness
Let it enter every pour of your being
Let it soothe you