Sonoran Desert Elegy

cougars and bobcats
and coyotes
oh my
javelinas
prairie dogs
and roadrunners
scurry by

with jackrabbits
and skinks
Gila monsters and
rattlesnakes
with insects
in infinite
variety

desert denizens
flying high
falcons and eagles
buzzards and
ravens while
owls and bats claim
the night sky

backdrop of mountains
and sandy parched
ground where cacti
creosote and mesquite
eucalyptus and
desert daisies line
dry washes

summer monsoons
and winter rains that
flood those parched plains
both evaporate in the
desert heat and filter
to the nearly empty
aquifer below

no place like the
Sonoran High
Desert 2000 feet
above the sea with
its dry healing heat
home to many
indigenous feet

–LE