Cold Reality

High desert landscape,
Barren and burned,
The trees I planted are gone,
Summer left us in a single day,
We skipped fall altogether,
And winter came blustering in,
All cold breath and falling snow…
Freezing heavy branches,
And the flowers too…

I stood outside,
Letting the chill in the air,
Freeze my cheeks,
And turn my breath to fog,
That slowly drifted away…

Yet,
I love it here,
Stark and surreal,
Everything is so clear,
There is no doubt,
As to what life is all about,
Not here…

There are no lies,
No make-believe dreams,
Just cold reality,
That one day,
The entire world will come to this,

An empty and cold place,
Where trees and dreams,
Once grew side by side,
Now only smooth stones,
And broad shouldered mountains exist,

The stars are so clear here,
The air so clean,
It clears the mind,
And reminds you,
Who you really are;

A child of this earth,
In this time and place,
Nothing exists,
Except the memory,
That here long ago,
Life existed and flowed,
Ran down these slopes,
In the form of liquid snow…

High desert landscape,
Surrounded by mountains that smile sagely,
And rumble approvingly,
As the footprints I leave behind,
Become obliterated by the falling snow…