Badlands
Rick was discouraged.
It came from enduring unsuccessful cures.
I kept on four wheel driving,
the foolishness of those not afflicted.
Finally we reached the wilderness
section of the park, threw on our packs,
and hiked into the North Dakota heat.
We moved past sage and prickly pear
and came to a break in the prairie -- an open canyon, a
crack in the earth, looking down on ancient, petrified trees.
Lone bison balanced on impossible ledges along the slopes.
The afternoon sky hung low and nothing moved.
The two of us were trapped by the clarity of the moment
like bees in amber.