Dawn Over Rapid Creek

The sun not yet into this canyon

somewhere towards the east

that circles about Big Bend

behind the run-up to Norris Peak

No sense the air moves

along the ice sheets

that cover the edges

Two days of melt

the large breaks sent

into the dark tumbles

of a creek still in dreams

where fish yearn

for the flies of spring

The ponderosa pines stretch to attention

as they salute a sky in its last yawn

They have been awake all night

fearful of the porcupine and pine beetle

day will let them sleep

The night lights popped on

for deer that pass this house

perhaps cats both large and small

some after mice

or ones that chase the deer

Floaters in these eyes

suggest the ghosts of this canyon

pass through this glass lined room

that head for shadows

as the day ahead

never needs their haunt

and their memory

of the Crouch Line that once

chugged along this watery lane

to Johnson Siding

for an engine's thirst

on to Pactola for Bernice Moosecamp's

scrambles bacon and corn fritters

Perhaps the sun will make its hike

through these deep canyons

to have breakfast at her hotel

now drown beneath deep water

five miles up behind the great dam wall

then later in the afternoon

to the old store in Silver City

for a Nehi Grape pulled

from the cold water of a deep cooler

This sun remembers

what was always

the best

a long memory this sun

to be followed day after day

as it breaks the ice

as it greets every resident

along the gentle curves

of an old friend's hand

a hand that shapes this canyon

this tireless sculpture

Copyright © 2013 by Barry G Wick