Dusty desert maze

I wander among prickly plants like ocotillo     lechuagilla

The sun’s bald brightness

soaks up shadows

I seek light now     and movement

I have been still for too long

 

Life hums quietly in the heat

above this hum I hear the cry of goats

with binoculars I see them on a distant cliff

 

The leader throws herself into a deep canyon

and calls her flock

one by one goats fling themselves

over the edge

 

except for one

fitful     he paces above the canyon     bleating shrilly

The leader answers back     still the goat paces

He stops     looks down

Decides

With one loud cry that wraps around the silence

he leaps

 

Blur of motion

propelling into nothing solid

no net below

not a single salvation

but sturdy legs     precise balance

and a sense for the necessity of flight

 

 

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Editor: Bryonie Wise

Photo: elephant journal archives