Pigments of the Desert - Aug. 18, 2023

green is a soft color

brown the much tougher one

that heat-beaten

wind-battered hue

of cliffs and crags

lizards and coyotes

thorns and sand

and everything dead

blue is the vacuous

waterless sea above

our sun not yellow

but laser white

a cruelty killing dreams

of all colors

and the few rafts

of clouds I see above

look down

but with no good beach

to go ashore

just keep going