Western Fantasia Poem by Sonny Rainshine

Follow the trail ‘longside the red arroyo,
where the thirsty sage stands resolute.
Under the spiky joshua tree, repose
and contemplate it, ask it how it got its name.

Recline under the desert sky,
a concave bowl of blackberries and diamonds,
inverted and seeming to spill
into your lap.

Is that the grieving of a lost lobo
or is it a coyote’s madrigal
for his lover waiting beyond the mesa?
Or is it the war-whoop of some warrior
who does not know he’s dead.

The sand flickers in the moonlight—
diamonds again! The trembling flame
of your campfire nibbles at the night,
and at last the desert in yourself,
the solitude, the vastness of being
rises up and radiates into the night.