Green in the Shade

We ride off towards the hills
As so often inclined to do
Their draw sweeps over us
Like the breakers upon the sands of time

Unlike the heat wave mirage in the distance
They are real
They are present
They play no tricks upon our retinas
Held in place by the pressures of grace

As the foot of these hills soon spread out before us
My daughter asks "When did God make us?"
I reply "Well, God made this Earth over 4 billion years ago
And we came along long after that"

Perhaps a better answer would have been
"Whenever he durned well pleased!"

But I am glad to see
That these cathedrals in the wilderness
Bring far off distant thoughts
Of time and space
And humbled life upon the rock

For we are merely scratches upon the surface
Imperfections raised in the rough hewn grain
Waiting to be smoothed over with the grace offered us
By the fine honed blade within His hand

For want of polish to shine
Like the green grass in the shadows
Alive and sheltered from the mid-spring sun
That beams down among the rolling clouds overhead

Too often have we wandered among them
And once again the rattlers have told us
That these places are best viewed from a distance
Do not come here until the cold sets in

Yet surrounding these shadows of illusion
Wind the paths of truth now easily seen
Along broken steps weighed down wearily
Under the burden of the countless masses

Here boulders are woven with heavy laden lacings
Of grass and gravels blooming sprigs of live oak
Trying hard to hold it all together
As the fibers dry clean through in the sun

For let's get one thing straight here
This is drought upon the land
There's no two ways around it
This is the raw deal in the cards

This was not brought on by some scornful wrath
Nor by the coyote as he leaves his hillside den
This is the nature of things
Unwritten tidings in the ebb and flow