Farewell To Rock And Sand Poem by Richard Harkey

When my time comes

if I have a choice

I'm going to leave everything

and follow the setting sun.

Westward, I will go

until I reach the desert;

then I shall sit

amidst the rock and sand.

Night will gently fall

and I will gaze into the black

frozen in wonder and awe

at the celestial splendor,

Of a sky

Seemingly infinite with stars;

galaxies, innumerable;

universes upon universes;

dimensions unknowable.

A Coyote will howl

somewhere in the distance

plaintive and lonely

it alone penetrates the silence.

When the day returns

the sun will heat

the ancient rock

burnt orange and hard.

The stone motionless

but slowly wearing down

year after year

century upon century.

The infrequent rains

and constant winds each combining

to deconstruct

bit by tiny bit.

Then, when the time comes

I will pass from this world

onto the next,

Farewell to rock and sand!

And to Saguaros standing tall

old, with many arms

waiting patiently and silent

for the rains to come again.

And to snakes and lizards

to Chollo and Prickly pear

to meandering arroyos

dry as dust.

To this land

a survivor of time

relentless and inexorable

ceaseless and unforgiving.

My soul will catch a ride

on a zephyr

only the body will remain

lifeless and inert.

I will cling no more

to the material world

my spirit expansive in the wind

like a flag unfurled.

In the sky,

On my way, perhaps I will see

the ghost of Geronimo

his skin, tanned and leathery

and Apaches long dead

Or I'll see

Coronado with his

plumed helmet and shining breastplate

on a regal steed,

Conquistadors following

with lance and sword

still searching

for the seven cities of gold.

The sum will burn my skin

and suck the moisture

from my body

until it hangs sallow upon the bones.

The flesh

will deterioriate

and dissolve

and then vanish.

The bones

will eventually turn to dust

and will be caught

upon a summer breeze

that will carry

the particles that remain

over the harsh and lovely

landscape

to land

in a canyon floor

or atop a high lonely butte

or a sacred mesa inhabited by spirits

they will scatter everywhere.

Now part of the unyielding

unchanging and seemingly eternal

rock and sand!