There’s something so reassuring
About leaving my footfalls next to eternity
After a long day hunched over a computer
Having arguments that won’t matter in a week
About technology that will be obsolete in a year.
How expansive it feels, then, to be so small beneath
Scenery so indifferent.
Hogbacks red as God’s brick
Scattered at the foot of America’s Mountain
The Purple Mountain’s Majesty we’ve all heard so much tell about.
The Utes called it Tava
The Sun Mountain
The rocks don’t care what we call them.
They were here first.
They’ll be here last.
I move at a pace as tectonic as the geography.
One lumbering step at a time.
Doing my decay management.
Huffing and puffing.
Fighting the ravages of time.
It’s a losing battle.
I have but an instant here
And the promontories I pace beneath
Won’t notice when I’m gone.
But it’s worth it.
The work has its own reward
And maybe good health can expand the blink of my existence
Give me a few more days
To wonder about the scale of things
Under a Western sky.