The tall saguaros bathe in moonlight
after the coyotes have run down to where
night is flourishing in
the streets below
but will anything
return to how it was
in last light? Will there ever again be rain?
How will election results
affect the pull of gravity that holds
the mountain to the Earth?
It appears
too heavy to be moved
yet feels the underground awaken
and stones worry down
the slope. The arroyo can’t sleep for thinking
about where the bees have gone
from their honeycombs. The ledges
where the Rock Wrens sing
rest in nervous silence.
Sleep becomes
impossible for the canyons filled
with worry for the javelina to find shelter
behind garden gates and trash bins.
The night sky looks so calm
and reassuring from the peaks
but why, if God is awake, do the calls
of the owls
send such a velvet shiver
through the rocks.
