Desert Rat's Prayer Poem by Mary Naylor

There's a rattlesnake breeze

Rustlin' the old cactus tree,

Limbs stretched to the sky

Together, their prayer rises on high.

The wind rattling ashes

As sheet lightning flashes,

Oh, God, make it stop!

Send us rain, if only a drop!

The breeze becomes a wind

Slithering over brush, like it was its kin.

The burnin' sky quitting never,

And fireblooms stretchin' out forever

Yet that snake is windin'

In heat that's is almost blindin'

Oh, God, make it stop!

Send us rain, if only a drop!

In the clouds I see horses,

Running their courses,

Their hooves striking sparks,

Their weary throats parched

With no lick of water, from morning 'till dark.

Oh God, make it stop!

Send us rain if only a drop!

I listen to the wrinkled cactus,

My throat so dry it's like to bust

I want to pray along with the wind and it,

But I can't utter a word, hell, I can't even spit!

Oh God, make it stop!

Send us rain, if only a drop!