Strata

Spinning gaze

clipping my pack

a scenic panorama

relatively unknown.

Vivid blue skies

muted mountain peaks

where red canyons flow

swirls of sediment.

Dusty boot steps

sandstone’s grip

sorrow in tow

harmony in the trek.

Towering cliff layers

cascading steep

a spanning crescent moon

to a Puebloan past.

Stretching top shelf

at tiptoe reach

tenderness, twisted and worn

lends its branch.

Bravely wrapped

tucked here in isolation

an ancestral fortress

of warm amber glow.

Flanking its shoulder

barely balanced

a large boulder

notable how it stands.

I perch with a snack

among this vast view breath

in bygones caress

Mother Nature at my side.