Beyond miles and miles of Sonoran and Chihuahuan desert
Criss-crossing the Southwest and Northern Mexico,
Where local folks know how to stand “tall in the saddle” as they say
Across a landscape that seems to go nigh on to forever
Even beyond the Boundlessness of you, O’ God,
Here imaginations may touch the beauty of all creation
And horizons meet the very edge of eternity.
Here you may see from Terlingua to Tuscon,
Marfa to Manhattan, Edna to El Paso
Across vistas of high desert plains,
Mountains, valleys, arroyos,
Streams and rivers merging together.
Where fingers of saguaro cactus
Point upwards in prayer,
While honey and velvet mesquite,
White-thorn acacia,
Althorn, ocotillo, lechugilla,
Agave and creosote bush
Bow with grace when touch by the breath of God
Traveling on windblown currents.
O Lord, let such a landscape echo back through each of us,
Expanding our sight, to become a vision
That comes to see heaven reflected
Through your divine made eyes.
May such a vision arise in us each
As it did for Christ and the Buddha
To echo, again and again
As we view heaven
Through divine made eyes.
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| Ansel Adams - El Capitan 1947. This is the majestic El Capitan (Spanish for "The Chief"), and to the right of it (behind it) is the highest mountain in Texas, Guadalupe Peak. |
Ron Starbuck
Copyright 2009
