By John Clise
I sat watching the moon move across the night sky. The wind was warm coming in from the southwest, and my senses were alive. The clouds were rolling across the velvet sky lit by the full moon.
Looking out I saw a cactus blooming in the night. Something like moonflowers I’d seen back east. The stars were like diamonds. Millions of diamonds dotting the darkened sky putting on a show just for me.
I heard a coyote barking in the not so far away in the distance. Suddenly, there he was staring at me from a few feet away. It seemed curiosity overtook, and he sat for a spell. And then he was gone into the darkness of the night.
Shutting my eyes, the sounds of the night flooded into my ears. My mind was awake and alive. The breeze grazed over the sand, and through cactuses. I heard lizards scurry across the sands. Songbirds sang muffled harmonies in the distance. I heard the flapping wings of an owl.
I opened my eyes to see red lights. I thought I was about to be taken by aliens to another time and place. I fancied that idea. It was just a low flying plane.
I let my hair out of its aging pink barrette to fall onto my shoulders. I laughed to myself as it fell in my eyes. Scooping it back out of my eyes I looked into the distance to see the first tiny sliver of the sunrise on the distant horizon.
I sat there watching the moon and the stars make way for the sun’s warmth. Its light would soon envelope my part of the world warming my face and my spirit. Its energy brings new hope to life. A moment to let the sun warm my face with eyes closed just feeling my spirit fly.
Clise's Cornucopia 