Blackdirt Bottomlands

Peaceful ride down wooded lane.
Where fences old with weather stain.
Where mushrooms round in fairy ring,
Along roadside growth of waning spring.

Where sunlight shines in dappled ray
Upon webs woven between all that sway.
And leaves of green return again
The swoop and chirp of flitting wren.

Through summer's swelt and drying air.
These crops grow with fruit to share.
Now autumn's fade and harvests bound.
And what remains gets turned in ground.

Came across a relic in a field.
One with age had broken and peeled.
It's sturdy boughs barred entry down.
The depths remain unknown for now.

A tree bears a cross in western shade,
As dust rolls a plain of level grade.
Sage blue flowers on cracked dry earth
Coloring the gray for what it's worth.

Standing corn rows solid and straight.
Ready for harvest, no more to wait.
Farm house sits under oaken trees,
With truck and trailer and cows and bees.

With freestalls, pens, and feeding lanes,
The heifers grow with steady gains.
And dairy barn moans echo the call,
To milk and honey and butter for all.

Forested oaks upon the slough
In wild bend and tangled grew.
Once backwatered from the lake and mist.
Now downhill run in swirl and twist.

Further along the road forgotten,
Coyotes disappear in tufted cotton.
Where water wells up from the ground,
Running through the alfalfa without a sound.

Mineral King

The high alpine valleys
Royal gardens of the Blessed One
Sprouting new life each summer
After the winter storms have gone

The savory scents of sage in the aspens
Meadows sprinkled with fresh seasonings
A grand feast for the senses
Their life and words breathed in deeply
Exhaled
And repeated in the ethereal

Up here the gates of heaven found
Whose hinges bear the weight upon
In golden sunlight and broken stone
Granite slab tables set for all

The mountains shed their shale scales
Red and gold dishes slide underfoot
Crash beneath the whitethorn brambles
Clinging in the grindings

Lakes of emerald and saphire
Inset among the high granite peaks
Gemstones in the crown of kings
Starlight shining in darkened pools

Words mingling upon the ripples
Slipping across as the spirals collide
Sending vibrations in the cool night air
Saturating the minerals with stardust in your hand

Sitting silently in riverside retreat
Listening to the lyrics sing upon the waters
As day breaks across the land
Seeing it all with new eyes

Everything from here on in is born again
Has a brighter shine upon the surface
Glowing in the shadows
Glistening on the waves

Diamonds gleaming in the splashes
Ice melting with grand abundance
Boulders tumbling and drumming the beat
Washing clean in the rolling torrents

Spirit strengthening in the hold
The Earth quakes beneath
Peace rolling through grinding gravel into dust
Tea leaves melting below rising steam

A mountain valley eden to enjoy
Healer of body, spirit, and flavor all rolled into one
Carpets of sage under aspens in the breeze
Like headings on a compass showing the way