Desert Dreams

The blanket of night rolls in, westward bound.

Star dotted, it so over fills the land.

I see the mountains; cactus and sagebrush fade to silhouettes.

The night over the sand comes alive.

Birds call out.

A coyote returns the call, hunting.

The bats wheel and turn in a fighter-plane war with the moth.

The dunes breathe a sigh of relief as the heat loosens its grip.

The wind shakes my tent, flapping the fabric.

Hop. Hop. The Kangaroo Rat goes by.

Comes then the Desert Fox, hopeful for a meal.

The life and death of the desert moves around me.

I step out.

The Milky Way stretches across the curtain of night.

It touches a long forgotten memory.

A desert so long ago and a comet cutting the dark.

The wonder of the night greeting a child.

The same way this night does to me.

At long since past the night, the black shimmers slowly purple.

Comes the dawn of another desert day.

Rises the ball of fire.

And we all play out our game, hide from the heat.

‘till night comes again.