Land of Ancestors

Mirages snake across the road

like watery serpents on an asphalt sky

Ancestor spirits

dance in the corner of my eye

Time catches my heels

and pulls me backwards

causing my heartbeat to slow

         to a

                    single

              beat

caught in the loop of

              here

      but not quite

               there

     but almost not

Magma squeezes out

to the lava flow

as blackened rain cinders from the sky

Raven warbles laughter from an all but hidden perch

     as Hawk shrieks to a morning-rising moon

                 Vulture drafts up thermal slides

           Horned Toad reports the status of the weather

and Pronghorn's progress bounds across the landscape

Sun sets in a molten sky

Moon expands her hold across the softening scenery

Sky initiates a celebration with star-laden darkness