Peace, dry.

There is no other place like the desert to see the stars

There is no other place like the desert for burying thoughts

It encloses you in its vast dryness

Holds you closer than a mother holds a newborn

Just so it can show you it’s chameleon like powers

How quickly the hot sand becomes colder than ice,

Amazed you will stare, while it balances the extremes

I ride through it, over large enclaves, until my legs

Are redder than a lobster and attached to my bike

Only by habit, or they are frozen to it, depends the time of day

Still, I ride with a rush like no other

Weave a new map, for someone to follow, in hopes no one will

This way I remain alone amongst and with the giants

The desert knows my name, and I know its soul

For me there is no place I call home

Only places I ride

The two wheels

While tripping dust into circles above ground

My home is in the movement,

Through the redness of the morning and

The highlights of the evening

If a meteor shower surprised me there

I think I’d be ready to give up eternity

And stare like a kid mouth agape

Longing for nothing more than that moment to last

Those times in between in between dry pieces of peace

Those make a lesser man sweat with fear

Fear I sometimes wish I possessed

To you, beast of nature and with you

I can only climb until I remember

It’s been so long since I’ve seen free water

And a tall green mound and bolt to another side

Of this land, my land, the land that’s logged in my bones

So much peace, so much dry heat, I could never

Thank you enough.

September 13, 2013