For my wife, Adela, on Earth Day
On our honeymoon, no matter where we stood,
we stopped to watch the sun crawl back
into the other side of tomorrow.
The migration of light crossed all living things
like a promise for what was to come.
Our love made us a witness
to what this Earth has to offer.
We are in Marfa, Texas,
it is a Texas December
and the cold air carries
itself into our breath
and out with each word.
I watch your neck crane
like a telescope
your eyes marvel
your voice traveled
upwards to the only sky
I’ve ever seen with
enough light to turn
the dark wild desert
into a matrimony of star fire.
In Golden Colorado,
We drive up to Lookout Mountain Road
to witness the Great Conjunction
Where Jupiter and Saturn blur into one
An earthly phenomenon that won’t happen again
for another 80 years
A million miles away,
Two planets align
into a holy reminder
of what happens
when the Universe
makes a promise
and keeps it.
On the outskirts of Alamogordo, New Mexico
White Sands National Park orbits like
another planet
Walking across the sand dunes,
we stomp and stare into an
endless white sea
The mountains surround us
as does the light
A distant wind wanders
across the sand like
a spirit.
The spirit blesses us
with the different colors of the sky
I think of the ground as a canvas
untouched and boundless
When the sun dips behind a strange horizon
I set my eyes on what’s left behind
The purple-pink-blue hues
go outside the lines of time
like spilled paint. When the light
hits your face, I am blessed by
the gravity of our love,
how it tethers us here
to this world
to this Earth.
A POEM A DAY 