Joshua TreeTalk

Joshua tree

they call you

prehistoric origins

your race

some ten centuries aged

your shaggy heads

atop arms scaly skin

--------

humbly

in face of

desert winter

onslaught winds

chilling freezing cold

you endure

snow drifts ominous

pelting hail

---------

multi headed tufted crowns

your shaggy heads

i trudge far from you

toward you

this starlit night,

eyes wide

your backdrop

midnight moon full

ultraviolet neon

pinkish purple horizon floor

swimming star’s lights

you sway at each of my trudging

steps

like standing on a ship deck

docked near ocean’s swaling tides

you move

left and right

with each my approaching steps

----------

with upraised arms

you welcome meteoritic

streaks

and beckon my approach

trustingly

No, i will not hack at you

and tower your magnificent

form

like early settlers did

for your trunks to build and burn

fences, steam engines

many of your race now gone

----------

moonlight

dimly smudges

ribbons of your hair

my walking dance with you

delivers me right up to

your mysterious shaggy trunk

i hear your benevolent

low

groan,

“welcome”

Your smell is rustic

kangaroo rat

rustling sound inside

your thousand year

warm

inner haven frame

-------

Your groans speak of those

who walked

rode wagons past

140 earth years ago

buzzards, owls who left

stains of excrement,

dried vermin entrails

mammal catches upon

your ancient crowns

-------

place my hand upon

your chest

i hear you speak of

native ancient humans

8 decades ago

light fires near your feet

and speak their native tongues

-------

your murmurs mix,

swirl in my mind

i see children waking

craggy mountain morning

light’s dawn chill

laughing throwing stones

at your friends in games

------

through cold and numb of winter’s

grip

through heat and swoon of summer

sun’s scorch

you stand silent

iconic

monument of an ancient earth